Precious is as precious be

he yells
loud enough
to make
my eyeballs roll
and then he says
why do you
smell like fire
his friends yell
bingo
and the woman next to me
chats
tap tap
her power cord
dangling
between us
take our picture
take our picture
says a woman behind me
I'm thirty
she announces
and sits down
disappointed by my quick
disinterested
snap
back to my reading
about inspiration
being threatened by information
overload
what a bunch of crap
I think
pressing the ink
into the paper
between
paragraphs

Common Market misdirection

his hands both marked
with an 'X'
he lands
elbow and forearm
against his friend's
girl's
back
clutching
his 'Monster'
he starts to talk
they stop
the kiss
they were engaged
in
no time
contact broken
as he expounds on women
she leans
stiffly
back
to the right
angled
not facing him
some girls
he says
ain't worth more than fucking
our whole table
is watching
some are even
photographing
'Mr. Cockblock'
as we now
know him
he continues
this diatribe
of a bitter
nineteen year old
lover man
his older male friend
generous
with his time
she twists
between the two
her signal
lost
on these two guy's
tone-deaf
glaze
it is a goddamned
bunch
of frustration
as she buys him another
'Monster'
and we begin yelling
'go away'
'get a clue'
because now
we are selfishly
invested