Tristan Robert Lange

unsafe at any speed

cl-click

tsssk

a breath pulled through fire

and flower

diamond-dusted smoke

pulled

inward

-ward into viny caverns

of ichorous inhalation

the hold is deep,

long,

c-c-c-con-

vul-

sive—

calming—

con-

spir-

ring into a

pro-

longed

ex-

ka-

booooom—

time for a thought

to fucking mushroom

into cosmic telescopic view

as i sip on my non-alcoholic raspberry espresso brew

because alcohol is no longer considered safe

so i toke and watch the smoke

carry my anxieties away

and sip on my

thc tincture

and mush-

room

tea.

>ehem<

“Pardon me.”

shit, didn’t see them. smile. act normal. joint behind the back. fuck! they can smell—

“Dude, that smells so good. You mind if I have a hit?—

“Oh, thanks man!—

”Yeah, I can’t figure out why it was ever illegal either.
“Fucking government, right?

“For sure! Yeah, you too, have a nice one!
“Thanks for the toke.”

whew.

lucky me! that was fucking cl—

wait...what did she say

“why that was

EVER

il-

leg-

al”,

as in,

it is no longer llegal here!

duh, and i

have a med

card.

here

i thought i was unsafe,

just as unsafe i was

once told that

mary jane

was,

the

devil’s siren,

like a green fairy

that absinthe only wished it could be.

van gogh’s ear wouldn’t be missing

were his elixir this motherfucking green.

hehe

that was kind of funny,

but for real—

humor aside—

is this shit

safe?

fuck,

hell if know.

probably not.

then again, what the fuck is safe?

shit—safe?—

what does that word even mean?

that is as foreign of a word to me

as any damn word in greek,

even more foreign,

like a nun seeking coitus

In kodosh koinonia.

“Where the hell did that come from?!”

shit. ha! they looked. hehe. i said that aloud.

but, yeah, safe...

what is actually safe?

christ—nothing is safe.

not a single thing.

life is not safe.

from birth onward—not safe.

shit! safe is abstinence!

abstinence—

now there’s a twist on

“the only safe sex is abstinence”,

not because we want to save it for marriage...

as if marriage is safe...

but because we want to

keep our future seed safe from suffering

like we make our dishes

dishwater safe.

what could be safer than abstinence?

“Bring back the nuns!”

hehe! Damn i said that out loud again!

bring back the nuns indeed. hehe!

but even in abstinence

safety finds no shelter—

no safety net for safety—

not even abstinence

can alleviate

any of us

from the danger

driven our way

from cradle

to grave.

safe.

maybe heaven,

or even nirvana,

is safe, but if it is,

the

to it through life:

certainly not safe.

there is absolutely nothing safe about life.

life is a zero sum game

that has its way

until there is no more use,

then it trades you in for someone new.

“But they fucking tell you anyway, don’t they?”

“Excuse me, did you say something?”

shit, i’ve gotta stop talking out loud.

“Oh. Sorry, Just talking to myself over here.”

another long breath

the whispy spirit smoke

pulled inward once again—

x l d s.

the exquisite exhale e p o e

they really do tell you, don’t they?

don’t do this...

don’t do that,

you don’t want to be unsafe, that\'s right,

\"safety first.\"

“oh,” they say,

“trust us with that information,

“we have to keep it safe.”

“we’re making this illegal,

“we’re taking that away,

“trust us, we know better.”

sure, “they” know better.

“they” want to keep us

safe.

for what?

to drone away for scraps?

to be divided with friends,

neighbors,

making enemies of family,

because we disagree on

who is the safest vote,

the one who will keep us

safe.

have we ever found that safety?

have the world’s leaders—

any one of them—

delivered

deeply the goods

that we’ve been sold?

fuck no.

Safety comes in waves of war,

where we hydrate our soldiers

with forever chemicals,

where we color coat our own

in agent orange

to make it safe for them to kill

or be killed,

whether it be in the sands of syria,

or on Elm St, anywhere USA,

a cocktail that delivers death

to those who fight to supposedly

keep

safe.

chhk

pfft

there, put it out.

wow, that was a good one.

time to go in and carry on.

I realize I may not be safe,

but you only live once and

i’ll take my chances.