Four-Note Melody i wake up everyday and haul myself out of bed face the mirror like an army armed with slingshots not necessarily deadly but damaging just the same and i’m sorely outmanned i can’t take them but i can take it or so i tell myself when i’m ready to face the day the cat-pee smell of death rises through the ventilation system from the apartment downstairs i tell the landlord but he doesn’t seem concerned i am, but i ignore it and head outside the traffic fumes smell sweet in comparison and i breathe them in as if they’re a substitute for oxygen i empty out my pockets for the blind man on the streetcorner i don’t know if he was really blind but the change was weighing me down anyway and i feel better without it i don’t want to go home at the end of the day but when it gets dark i head back we tell each other about the parts of our lives that don’t touch false statements false accusations eventually lead to a letter of resignation even furniture weakens over time