A Stupid Little Part of Me That Will Not Die (by William Taylor Jr.)

A Stupid Little Part of Me That Will Not Die

I guess if I were a better man
I would cross all the useless miles
from here to wherever it is you are
and it wouldn’t matter
what you were doing or who you were
doing it with
I would find you and I would tear
my dumb heart from my dumb
chest and I would place it at your feet
then turn and walk away
but I am tired
and lazy
and have always lacked a flair
for nobler deeds
and I know this kind of thing bores you
and you’re not much given
to sentiment
but there’s still a stupid little part of me
that will not die
that feels the need to tell you
how your laughter saved me
for a little while
and taught me how to truly weep
and even on your worst days
you are more alive
than the next thousand people
I’ll be forced to meet
and I don’t mean to make
too much of things
it’s just that the days
are not much
without you
and I don’t know if I have it in me
to ever be
beautiful again
but I guess people have it tough
all over
and anyway maybe they were right
when they told me you were
no good
but the thing is I’m that way
myself. 



* * * * *

William Taylor Jr. lives and writes in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Broken When We Got Here, his latest book of poetry, and An Age of Monsters, his first collection of fiction, are both available from Epic Rites Press. The Blood of a Tourist, a book of new poems, will be published in early 2014 by Sunnyoutside Press. He was a recipient of the 2013 Acker Award.

Sad Little Monsters (by William Taylor Jr.)

Sad Little Monsters

Writing poems you’ll never read
is the only way I can speak to you anymore

yet there was a time
when those who mete out slivers of grace
upon the world like occasional rain

spoke our names with a certain fondness

but at some point mercy had other things to do

and they rounded up all the soft things
and spirited them to someplace cold

and burned every map that could ever take us back
to all the pretty things we said

and these days the sad little monsters we sometimes
call our hearts
keep us from sleep with their lonely stirrings
and strange desires

though we drown them like kittens
again and again

the stars will fall and the moon
will break its promises

but honey let’s not squander our sorrow
all in one place

it’s early yet and the night
has more to say.



* * * * *

William Taylor Jr. lives and writes in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Broken When We Got Here, his latest book of poetry, and An Age of Monsters, his first collection of fiction, are both available from Epic Rites Press. The Blood of a Tourist, a book of new poems, will be published in early 2014 by Sunnyoutside Press. He was a recipient of the 2013 Acker Award.