corns and calluses (the feet trilogy, part i)

pretend that nothing happened
pretend I was not there
pretend the hills were watching
and kisses were thin air

pretend you never liked it
the vision blurred, lens flare
lest we forget the tantrums
provided at daycare

impaled on your own spear
pretend you could not bare
being razed without much ado
while no one really cared

pretend you sailed the oceans
and death was well aware
pretend the liability
of whom a fate has dared

mobsters, crooks and petty thieves
eyeballing what you share
and then all hope was lost
barricades and warfare


pretend the end is hollow
pretend you don't compare
pretend it's now or never
you vanish, I declare

pretend a world of sorrow
a tear here, a smile there
pretend, for god's sake, just pretend
under the knife, forever


j. g. laszyck (Columbus, OH, 1976)