Friday Bagel Time

from 07.11.25

it's my brother's birthday

I've only seen him in person once

this year

but he is becoming an old man

I know this not from looking at him

but because when I look at myself

I see an old man and I am three

years older than he

I walk around rehearsing

what I'm going to say in Deutsch

before I go into a place

then when I go in

I say my line but fumble it

the director tells cut

but the cameras keep rolling

and nobody stops

there are local helicopters overhead

and circling Vegas also

my brother isn't flying in any of them

lately

only the police as they help ICE

eliminate what they've deemed

the vermin

rats without humans are just a society

of rats

but humans without rats

will always find something to expel