Stairmaster

Washing coffee grounds from a banana peel
The days slip by into the white fuzz on a strawberry

The day starts, the race starts
The dew sinks what it can of itself into
The blades of grass
On a rickety shared fence, a mangy squirrel is motionless
On hind legs

Heat wave tripping
A zebra wading in gold
Behind a freeway sound barrier
Body sweats

My back's against the wall
Waiting in line at the coffin store
Count the assets in front of the grim reaper
Put a price tag on that memory box
Then life is a memory game
Lost a few decades worth of decks
Laughs are a turret, firing
God's not a conductor
Can't turn down the traffic noise

Time counts up
Like an infinite stairmaster
The stairmaster doesn't stop
The stairs disappear, fold under
And are the same, but new steps, nonetheless
Same sunrise
Different day
Repeat, repeat, repeat
Do something new to find the repeat
Used to look ahead like
It's endless up there
It is. I am not.
Collapsed on these decade-old stairs
Time keeps on ticking up
But I stay right there

The sun is out and we're sixteen
The Fugees, "Ooh La La La"
To the pool, over speed bumps, no sunscreen
But did she love me
Alone in a childhood bedroom, three yearbooks
Earmarked pages
So happy you'd think we made it

The mutts locked in the pound
Silver square cage, poking a finger through
If it was drugs or food
The dog wouldn't choose food.