Get Us Out of Here

The roaches crawl through the employee lounge

as we wait on invisible checks
to spend on starving children
and cheap wine

I find my comfortable place by the fan
and pop a Xanax

daydream I’m a jetsetter
popular with the natives
of every island

I’m halfway there
wearing no underwear

the quarters in my pocket
for ramen
instead of laundry

Anna
I want to take you
on a kitchen counter
and pretend it’s a balcony in Barcelona

we’re halfway there
as my AC struggles

as we do
folding clothes
tearing tickets

we’re halfway there

but the landlord’s
always waiting at the end

our island fades into a bedroom
our balcony fades into a twin bed

we fall asleep

broke
and dreaming

© 2010 Lee Kitzis

Brown Pants

I

I was sent home today
for wearing brown pants

I'm 29 years old
almost 30
I have a college degree
not that I think
having a college degree
makes me better
than anyone else
I've met some high school drop-outs
that are geniuses
and college grads
that can barely wipe their own ass

but still
I have gray hairs
and I was sent home
for wearing brown pants

by a good man
an ex-gangbanger
who turned his life around
who's the kindest soul in the world
and didn't wanna send me home
for wearing brown pants
instead of blue pants

but had to do
what he had to do

and I don't hate him for it

I don't hate anyone

I don't hate the pants

they're brown
and they didn't know

I don't hate the customers

they certainly don't got to a museum
expecting astronauts and severe weather exhibits and blue pants

I don't hate myself

they're pants

II

When I got to work the next day

the Omnimax projector
had broken down

the show was canceled
and all the customers
were filing out of the theater

the bosses stood there

None of them knew how to fix it

but they had blue pants on

They had followed
their own rule

they looked good

as the tourists walked out the door

and never came back

© 2010 Lee Kitzis

A Good Looking Man

I was on the train
going to work
with a grocery bag
full of chips

everyone was looking at me

and I thought

alright
I'm a good looking man

every time I looked up
the girls would look down
and the guys would look to the side

and I thought
alright
I'm intimidating

then I realized
I hadn't buckled my belt
back up

the strap was sticking out
underneath my polo shirt
and it looked like
I had a massive hard-on

also
you could clearly see
the Shopper's Value logo
underneath the thin white plastic
of my Jewel bag

when I got to work
I went to the bathroom
and looked in the mirror

I had forgotten to comb my hair
it was sticking up in back

I also
had crust in my eyes

I gave myself the wink and the gun

I was a good looking poet

© 2010 Lee Kitzis