poem of the day 10.19.12

i’d rather

     --in memory of amanda todd

i’d rather a painter over a poet

i’d rather feast over famine

i’d rather the cold and the gray

or the sunshine from inside a darkened bar

i’d rather a cat to a dog

and the winter over the summer

i’d rather your love forever over the years of wasted sperm

spent on pipe dreams

i’d rather nothing over omnipotence

rather batman over jesus to try and come be my savior

i’d rather a war of words over guns and blood and god

i’d rather kill a day instead of myself

i’d rather wait than react

but nobody is perfect

i’d rather a technological void of constant darkness than read about

another goddamned kid committing suicide

over facebook fallacies

i’d rather get through it and move on

i’d rather you were on this earth right now, amanda

to see the rain fall in the morning

i’d rather wine over beer

but scotch always

i’d rather my pizza plain

and my women come with extra toppings

in the brain rather than in the chest or ass

but i’d rather say mankind over humankind

because i’m creature of habit

i’d rather a democrat over a republican

but that’s mostly semantics these days

to be honest i’d rather not vote

i’d rather candles over lamps

and would rather be a jack to a king

because i’ve always played the fool much better

i’d rather ala carte than what’s on the menu

i’d rather van gogh over a bloody ear and wheat fields

i’d rather the white of peace

instead of the red, the white, and the blue

i’d rather not talk about it most of the time

i’d rather a job than unemployment

but just slightly

i’d rather london in the fall

paris in the spring

and madrid in the summer

over new york city shouting in my ear

i’d rather the reality instead of the myth

and paper over plastic

i’d rather cash or charge than use a code

i’d rather children be seen and not heard

i’d rather another opinion than my own

because i’m looking for something new to reject

i’d rather be three up on the world

than be the only sober guy in the room

i’d rather skip thanksgiving and christmas

i’d rather beethoven over bach

and coltrane over this infinite sadness

i’d rather the cd over vinyl

and the mp3 just go away

i’d rather the 20^th century

and i’d rather your cell phone up your ass

than attached to your mouth

i’d rather be left alone than join the crowd

i’d rather bleed the years in obscurity than sell my soul

and i’d rather drink alone, my love,

when it get like this inside