An Interview #1
Vibe Magazine: Why haven’t you shot yourself in the head?
Aaliyah: My mother sits in her padded recliner, stares through a row of Law & Order DVDs and thinks, "I should have told him I loved him more." My stepfather turns the wood grain wheel past his gut to send his pearl-white Yukon through the McDonald's drive-through thinking, "I should've had children of my own."
Met Gene Morgan
inside a 4-5 word
poem re the highway
outside El Paso
how lonely it is
Friends List
Creates a photo album for every country in Europe.
Posts pictures of the father who died last week.
Works part-time for Joan Didion.
Takes lithium and spies on her boyfriend.
Goes to an expensive school.
Hates the Ridley Scott film Prometheus.
Leaves her phone charger different places.
Eats at The Waffle House near the airport.
Talks of when she lived in Thailand.
Works at an Arby’s in Bastrop, Texas.
Teaches yoga in a mini-mall.
Plays Persian music and smokes hash.
Goes kayaking and wears Teva-brand footwear.
Has a tattoo that reads HELL along her neck.
Yellow Casket
you read a comment on the internet
think “god, what an asshole”
click reply and type your reply
edit your reply and click the post button
you read “username and “password”
think “god, what an asshole”
type your username and password
click login and read “this password is invalid”
you think "god, what an asshole"
imagine a naked man at a computer
click “forgot your password”
type your email address
you think "god, what an asshole"
imagine the man typing naked
open your email
see an email from your mom
you read “life insurance” in the subject
picture yourself holding a bag of money
imagine staring at a yellow casket
feel afraid you don’t have feelings
you refresh your email
open an email with subject “lost password?”
think “you’d stare at the yellow casket and feel nothing”
google image “yellow casket”
you look at jpegs of yellow caskets
think how calm people look at death
re-read the comment on the internet
mutter “of course i would feel something”
