Should the Inevitable Happen
Our city supposedly has x
pick your newest estimate
years left till the floodwall
drops like a Higgins boat
bow ramp. We don’t care,
and why should we? God
gave a noodle to us, a great
noodle, but come on. As
if we could stop or want
to epochal mania. Let the
drownings come. Not a
stiver of resistance from
me. Make it exciting. Get
tetanus. Get rabies. Remove
a smoke alarm battery. Open
your eyes in hot tub water.
Hold it in as long as you
can. If you explode, come
study my final days. Watch
me drop pennies on a street-
car track and fill my house
with quicksand pits. These
are things I have to do, we
all have to do, we all need.
There’s no reason not to put
snakes in public toilets or
plan for April Fool’s Day. I
want the biggest end possible.
I’m 2 checks short of buying
a laser hot enough to leave my
silhouette on the stair wall,
which, I guess, means I want
a legacy. And there it is:
the human spirit, whatever
it means, still wants silence
to be respectful, lest it die.
Bionote
David Rodriguez is a writer and teacher based in New Orleans with an MFA from Florida State University. He has previously been published in the New Orleans Review, The Southeast Review, The Literateur, and The Double Dealer Redux, among other places.
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