11/21/07

Opposite of Song of Myself

*
My loneliness feels like my soul

needs to pee but I can’t find a bathroom.

I feel abstract.

I’m an abstraction.

I disapprove of myself.

I click the mouse and I despair

staring at the computer screen

I hate myself.
*
Wandering aimlessly near Union Square

putting on my zip-up hoodie

felt like a preparation

for the end of my life. My CD player's batteries

were "dead," I could hear my breathing

and it sounded scary, like I had left

my earphones in, which I had, I had left them in.

I took them out and held them sadly

and put them in my pocket.
*
It is time to explain myself.

I feel sad like a friendless unicorn baby licking an unopened package of sour patch kids.
*
In bed at 4PM

I held my pillow

and thought “oh well”

in regards to my entire life.
*
Running across the street

to get to my apartment

I arrived at my apartment.

My key going into the lock

made noises I couldn’t hear.

I was listening to music through earphones.

Mixed CD...the key wasn’t working, it was

the wrong key. I felt about to be robbed.

I looked behind me: 3 obese women, 24-hour deli.

In bed the next afternoon I thought I heard a very loud noise

from very far away

that sounded like I was dying, but 
it was something else, a roommate

in the bathroom.
*
I stood in the kitchen staring out the window

at 5PM, it was raining. I had no obligations

for the next four days. “I don’t want anymore obligations

or responsibilities,” I thought with some confusion.

Then I thought about my smoothie.

It was below me somewhere. I was holding it

at waist-level. Across the street...people

seemed normal. Something behind my eyes

was looking at the world

with more interest than I

and angry at me about that.

"Don't be angry at me," I thought sarcastically.
*

27 Comments:

Blogger James said...

simultaneous parataxis

7:59 PM  
Blogger apants said...

When I got a list put up on Mcsweeney's I got a few emails from people who clicked on my name but I don't know if they will link to your blog. They usually just link to people's emails. That is pretty dumb. You should make a special request.

Or just put it up on Mcsweeney's 2.

I read that Mcsweeney's 1 gets like 20,000 unique hits a day. I don't know where that statistic came from or anything though.

8:38 PM  
Blogger Kendra Grant Malone said...

the last five lines are so wonderful tao!

i like the feeling they gave me.

9:43 PM  
Blogger Justin Rands said...

this post is mc sweet... ahhh

11:00 PM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

i submitted to mcsweeney's, 20,000 hits will move some units maybe

thanks kendra

mc sweet, thanks

3:12 AM  
Blogger Porochista Khakpour said...

that unicorn line had brian and i howling! love it.
will you be making a post about this gross day for us vegetarians

6:35 AM  
Blogger Pirooz M. Kalayeh said...

I love this.

7:37 AM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

hi porochista

this blog ignores all holidays, writer's deaths, and current events

angelica has special thanksgiving things in the take-out bar, i don't work tomorrow, but i think they have some vegan ice cream dessert

hi pirooz

7:43 AM  
Blogger Pirooz M. Kalayeh said...

Hi Tao

6:40 PM  
Blogger ryan said...

happy fish day

2:21 PM  
Blogger Kristen Iskandrian said...

this is good.

7:24 PM  
Blogger Dobbs said...

i will submit my penis to mcsweeneys

7:52 PM  
Blogger Mike Young said...

Is this what the pink textbook will sound like? Or will this go in a different book? I like it.

4:30 AM  
Blogger big_nal said...

youuu dirty fucker, do something else! And the rest of you, aren't you ashamed?!

8:53 AM  
Blogger BLAKE BUTLER said...

mcsweenis

4:58 PM  
Blogger Mike Bushnell said...

Did you get the camera and things?

6:10 PM  
Blogger Matthew said...

I liked reading this.

6:47 PM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

mike, no these are not in the textbook. i finished the textbook something like half a year ago. i don't know if these here will go into any book.

hi mike, i got them a few days ago. thank you. the camera is charging.

8:33 PM  
Blogger Zachary German said...

i like your poem and look forward to your movies

10:19 PM  
Blogger Miles Newbold Clark said...

McSweeney's gets a hell of a lot more hits than 20,000 per day. As far as I know, and this is utter hearsay, they get more hits than any other publishing house on this continent (probably because their online content is better than any other publishing house on this continent, period).

10:12 PM  
Blogger Tao Lin said...

Hi Tao -

I like this, particularly the unicorn line, but we don’t consider poetry for the site, so I’m going to pass.

Best,
Chris

---

Christopher Monks
Acting Web Site Editor

5:21 PM  
Blogger Matt said...

Hello!

I am contacting you because I am working with the authors of a book about blogs, and I'd like to request permission to use the photograph you have posted in this book. Please contact me at matt@wefeelfine.org, and I'd be happy to give you more information about the project. Please paste a link to your blog in the subject field. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Matt

12:55 PM  
Blogger redpencil said...

@porochista khakpour:

"...brian and me..." not "...brian and i..."

12:52 PM  
Anonymous steve roggenbuck said...

tao, this is hilarious. i love it. especially interesting for me because for 1.5 years my favorite book was Leaves of Grass. you are like the yang to whitman's yin? i forget which one is bad, of the two, but you are that one. cool

6:24 PM  
Blogger Susan said...

<3

7:55 AM  
Anonymous omar de col said...

sweet succulent poem tao

7:18 AM  
Blogger Seymour Blake said...

I like this poem. It makes me feel less alone in a kind of lonely way. It makes my loneliness a little less lonely.

7:42 PM  

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