the elephant not in the room
I wasn’t supposed to be here
I would say
it was a line I had been practicing
since nineteen ninety-nine
where were you supposed to be
someone would invariably ask
at this point I would
pretend to pay my tab
and walk through the back door
murmuring something about
how my story is as unbelievable
as my untimely demise
november two thousand twenty-two
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