Pink T.V Stand {poem}

Pink T.V Stand

I am in the back room, drinking cold coffee in the dark. It's 8:30 friday night. and
dancing to synth-pop
over the internet
my arms above me
and I below them

the rain has come
and gone

and there is nothing you can do
to change the flavor of his breath.
we all make light
of what Ronnie
has been
through

we haven't heard from him in a while
he
was last seen at payless shoes
looking for new
running shoes
he left the old pair
in the back of
his van.

Jesse said he was ok,
but it had been a while
since she heard from hom too.

And Josh keeps asking
me down for smoke breaks at work
and I don't smoke
so I just stand next to him watching him
blow the smoke into the wind
thinking it won't get all over me.
it does
I don't mind

He starts a sentence then mumbles
about his
chain smoking
and grabs another Parliment from his
back pocket. his eyebrows raise when he notices
it's his last one

I try to avoid the topic
of his girlfriend's son and ex-husband
but we always end up talking about that.
again his eyebrows arch upward
as he mentions he should really stop
smoking

I joke that I should start smoking
Josh offers me a cigarette, polietiy
I gently
decline
telling him I have an iron lung
"really?" he asks

everything on the street is moving
as fast as it can
pushing and crashing forwards
faster and further into whatever
it is that needs to be crashed into.

I'm there next to Jesse in line at McDonald's
when Ronnie updated his facebook status to
single
She is next in line to order
and crying

I take her hand as we walk up to the counter
and order
for her.