Can you, if you’re not doing anything,
help me harvest these dead fish.
I have to make my way in this world.
Yes, you’re right, the river oozes more than it flows.
Fecal levels are high, so they say.
Is that why the water blooms mustard?
You should try standing in my old shoes.
You’ll feel as broken as I do.
And maybe you can assist me
in hauling out the bodies
that float down from someplace upstream.
Burying strangers is our contribution to the war.
Okay, so this is a lost cause. .
So could I weep on your shoulder instead?
You are bringing me a better life, after all.
I’m running out of ways to appreciate it