Damian Rucci

Y’all Were Just the Pregame 

Some say life is like a river
& we’re floating from the womb
to our caskets & you always try to hold on
but we all drift away from each other
so it’s best to sit on your hands &
watch the world pass you by-
watch the breeze greet grasses
you’ll never step on; watch the gulls
dance in cryptic seafoam winds

& some say life is like a race car
& nirvana can only be found with 
the wind on your face, with a stampede
beneath your sternum, gulps of breath
are milestones to completion
life can end in a second & any second
without the thunder of release is too long
that the devil will get his due 
once we get our hands on ours

but some say life is what you make of it,
that men should build monuments
out of their bones, to stack boulders
on their shoulders until they break the heavens
another obelisk smited by our limitations
& we all fall short & we all die 
just a little more alone 

I want the last taste on my tongue
to be the bitter lightning of adrenaline
to have the hair on my arms marching
to the drum of my screaming heart 
to feel the wind beat these hollow bones
like it was the chorus of cherub angels 

You’ll know y’all were just the pregame
& that life can end in any second 
& when that second takes me 
just know that I fucking deserved it