A depressed doctor hangs up his white coat in an empty apartment after a long day

I lost a race today

The striped-shirted man in the corner with a stopwatch told the newspaper

I read about it in bed

He said he watched the clock run indefinitely

Nobody else saw him snickering at my paralysis

He said I didn’t even have the right
Shoes on

I said I didn’t even remember signing up

Nobody asked why

I slept through the awards ceremony

The story said my solipsism was so insatiable

I forgot to file the forms

To not become too big to fail

To eschew a shot of schadenfreude

The same person who said

I am entitled to your mercy

also said

I invest suffering for future returns

She can fly and she can digest cellulose

Acquiescence is

when you lose so much

that you wrap up your oldest possession

put ribbons and bows on it

and try to forget

you know its real origin

A withered old man

I long to become

alone

outdreamed and weak-streamed

with so much peace of mind

even the neighbors can hear the reverberations through my hollow cocoon.