Pile of Choices (Backward Completion) by Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith

Piles of Choices (Backward Completion)
‍ ‍ For Joe

Pride

He never answers his phone.
Just music vibrating the blinds in his apartment.
            Big stacks of mail postmarked 
From Cleveland; a sad cat named
Pride and a poster of a woman 
In a red evening gown eating sushi.
Her eyes saying let’s make some noise.

Maybe it was an attack of
The savage materialism living 
down the street
or that needing it all-now vibe,
and do not forget all of those
days full of tired people  
mumbling, “talk to you later.”

Then Pride coughing up wet furballs
             on the brushed-up pillows.
And that one gorgeous friend who can’t
help flipping off the entire
room without turning around and then
returning to his dark bedroom 
in the boredom of suburbia.
Once after he finished a stiff one 
He muttered, “Everything now.”

Plans

Once there were piles of choices
and a closet full of polished
wingtips. His eyes nothing like 
Mr. Hate’s tense pale face. 

He had lists of plans everywhere,
never waited for anyone,
           anywhere. Those anymore
times were chopped up by
power tools in that alley
behind the pub called,
Think About Me.  He was asked
this all the time, “What matters?”
The correct words sounded all wrong.

Christopher Rubio-Goldsmith was born in Merida, Yucatan and raised in a biracial/bilingual family. He taught English and coached soccer at a large urban high school where most of the students were American-Mexican. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 1985 with a degree in Creative Writing. Recently his work has appeared in The Twin Bill, The San Pedro Review, Inverted Syntax and other places. Some of his other work will be appearing in the upcoming The Crab Creek Review. He has been nominated for Best of The Net and two Pushcarts. One of his poems recently received honorable mention in The Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award from the Paterson Review.