Fred Aiken Writing

Tag: Poetry

July 17, 2023

WHAT IT’S LIKE FOR ME TO LISTEN TO ELLIOTT SMITH

the most consistent way i’ve found to clear a room
is to start playing elliott smith,
and i haven’t been able to tell if it’s because everyone
starts feeling introspective and sad about their life, or life in general,
or if it’s because i start break dancing when i listen to elliott smith,
and i get,
how do you say,
kinda violent

July 16, 2023

VOTE OR TIME TRAVEL

i forgot to register to vote one year,

and then just kept forgetting,

to the point where i got to my mid-thirties without

ever voting for a single politician,

and at this point i’m too embarrassed to reverse course,

so i guess i’ll continue to be apolitical for the rest of my life,

or until i figure out how to register retroactively

with time travel

July 15, 2023

THE BAREST OF BAREFOOT BANDITS

i read about the barefoot bandit
that terrorized and burglarized small towns in
the northwest,
who played a video game,
then thought, heck, why not steal and fly a real plane,
and he traveled the world without a driver’s license
while on most wanted posters and
with bullets shooting past him as he fled,
narrowly missing capture, narrowly missing death,

and i can’t help wonder what a teenage barefoot bandit
would have looked for,
or if all existential teenage crisis end in international manhunts in the bahamas