Mouth Full of Grounds

The dots are on order     Cops patrol
the larger subway stations
on segways     Nobody
gets out of the way    Yesterday
I had a colonoscopy    which required fasting
for 40 hours and taking so much laxative
I shat water    Now my body is clean
I'm cleansed    and have the opportunity
to put only good things in    To start again
But I can't shake this shadow    I call it death
Love so strong I can hardly
function    Every fight my wife and I have had
or will    Why we can't
love each other like we used to
What will happen    to our children
To date, I'm responsible for the deaths
of at least 20 mice    My most triumphant moment
was when I got 6 at one time on a glue trap
then drowned them in the toilet    At work
we have a meeting in which there is only one rule:
No gerunds    My boss' boss
thinks I'm doing an amazing job  
My boss isn't so sure
Blood fills the place on my finger
where I just chewed off some skin    My fear has gone         to waste

From You're Gonna Miss Me When You're Bored (Barrelhouse Books, 2014) by Justin Marks. Copyright © 2014 by Justin Marks. Used with permission of the author.