Man, you wanna know
what’s wrong?
She’s gone and I’m
just figuring out I
was in love with her,
I swear —

Krystle,
Krystle was a cashier
at
the Walmart, 
at the Walmart
on 16, out by the new 
Ford dealership,
the one that used to be
farther out on 16 but
moved closer to town — 
yes, that one  — anyway
Krystle,

Krystle,

Krystle — 

listen, man,
stop laughing,
stop laugh-interrupting me, people
got to eat, got to work, and yeah
I’ve seen the damn website —

what you’re saying by laughing is
that you hate the people there
along with the store —

listen,
Krystle
was a friend from high school 
and I was in love with her all these years
and I just figured it out
and she just died.

I can’t tell her as something
she wasn’t.  Maybe —

no.
Man, I don’t even fucking know 
you.  
Don’t want to.
Go.

they all step away
from recent effort
saying “isn’t that the greatest thing”

a portion
then look back and say
“isn’t that the worst thing ever”

even fewer 
say “hmmm…”
and get back to work on it

how few indeed of that last fragment
look at it when they’ve finished
say “it IS the greatest thing”

and then discard it
knowing that to have perfected it
is to have reached a dead end

those few drunk on growth
are the ones whose feet
I bend to kiss