22 06 22

You say that eve­ry­thing is very simple and inter­es­ting
it makes me feel very wist­ful, like rea­ding a great Russian novel does
I am ter­ri­bly bored some­times it is like seeing a bad movie other days, more often, it’s like having an acute disease of the kid­ney
god knows it has nothing to do with the heart
nothing to do with people more inter­es­ting than myself
yak yak
that’s an amu­sing thought
how can anyone be more amu­sing than one­self
how can anyone fail to be
can I bor­row your for­ty-five
I only need one bul­let pre­fe­ra­bly sil­ver
if you can’t be inter­es­ting at least you can be a legend
(but I hate all that crap)

« Yesterday Down at the Canal (1961) »
Lunch Poems
City Lights 1964
p. 66