In This Instance, I Am the Ghost

Damn dog
grabs 
the stuffed animal 
and then leaves. 
I delete 
all the distractions 
on my phone 
and call it 
good riddance. 
To make each 
hieroglyph
a bad habit
means 
carving away
the time 
for each one 
that exists. 
My I
never 
remains
the same. 

Once, 
someone told me, 

look!

Look
at how 
oblivious 
& hungry 
your eyes are!
as a way to show
that he cares. 

It also means in code, 
look 
at how 
you never stay the same. 
Look at how
you are 
nothing
but an idea. 
This same person
also wrote
in my yearbook 
as gratitude, 
you’re one 
of the cool ones. 
Don’t change—

or else. 

What
a comedy!
How funny 
it all was
when I found
Nothing 
with my sock 
monkey, 
and he had 
ripped it 
limb 
from limb. 
Once 
a gift, 
now an amputation
of desire. 
He didn’t
know any 

better. 

But
he 
did 
know 

best.