1

Clearly

clearly I'm not cut out for customer
service or sales
retail
service with a smile
or anything even remotely having to do with the
general public in any facet or form, shape, color and what have you

clearly
as I keep shooting everyone who
walks into the store in their fucking needy faces
their noses explode and eyes liquefy under heat and
pressure and blood pours out of every crater
orifice, old and new
brains spill on the tile and windows
even up into the fan, spraying my face with a au du frontal lobe flambè

clearly
from the way I keep shooting the corpses, long
after they're deceased as they jump and
jerk with each new bullet hole riddled along their sickly bodies
shouting at them, shaking them
gripping their clothing tightly in my hands and pulling them
close to me
whispering into their ears: can you repeat the question, please?
laughing over them as the police haul me away to the dark and dank solitude
of a cell well below the earth's surface to consider what I've done

clearly
below the sidewalks and sewer systems I remain,
cursing those above me and wishing them wicked outcomes
at the hands of strangers like me
on the way to my final sit down
I resemble a man torn asunder, a man pushed too far
a man who waited too long for the rain to come and wash the shit
from the streets
a man walking the final walk to the kilowatt couch, grinning
and knowing that this shall not be the end,

clearly

by Joaquin Rivera

My name is S. Joaquin Rivera. I'm 33 and
I'm a professional writer. I've been writing pro
since 1999 and have covered territory from
the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast
and just about everywhere in between.
I earned my B.A. in English from the
University of Colorado. In addition to
being a published author I've worked as
a full-time and freelance journalist,
an EMT as well as a firefighter.
I just published my first book.