April 1st
I didn’t think there was an appetite
for April Fool’s day today,
my roommate coughs a lot
anyway, snores like
he needs to be louder
than anyone’s
ever been,
and last night he told me
he felt bad,
this morning he said
I’m going to the doctor,
I tried to eat soup
just now
and it hurts too much
to finish.
All right, I said,
and we got serious
in a good way,
then we joked
and I sent him the numbers
my family can be reached by
and he said he’d send his,
and later I got on
a happy hour by video,
they show so much,
but mostly how much
people need
to laugh together,
and my roommate calls,
I duck out and he says
I have to disinfect
the house
right now,
he’s got it,
and everything speeds by,
his life, our friendship,
my life,
and everything
I have to do
immediately
since it’s in
our home,
and I’m about to tell him
to send me those numbers,
all the numbers
for his family,
but before that
I ask him,
how
do you feel?
And he says,
April Fool’s,
and I fucking
hate him,
as hard as we’re laughing
and as unfunny as this is,
I still thank every god
that it’s tonsillitis,
he’ll be in line
for a while, he says,
around a bunch of people
at a pharmacy
all in need
of medicine.
Get
fucked,
I tell him,
and we laugh some more
and a few minutes later
I’m back in the party
where I can’t help but notice
as I’m laughing
even more
that I’ve been waiting
while I’m laughing,
while I’m running,
while I’m writing,
while I’m eating,
while I’m awake,
while I’m sleeping,
that I’ll always
be waiting, now,
for that call
from someone else that I need
on a different day.
