E has the lab grade stuff

commonly referred to as research chemicals

the kind you can’t buy off your local

but are smuggled out of lab environments

or made in college chemistry classrooms

that cops find out about and crash down your door

putting knees on backs and making arms Kimura

‘I just wanted to be enlightened, sir,’ is never a good excuse

or a joke that’s appreciated

earning neither laughs or nods

but quick knees to the ribs.

***

He leans over

his pupils like dark lakes

‘You know what’s funny?’

I don’t

one time it was clockwork elves

crawling through the walls

one time it was that my veins

were visible through my skin

and many times it was nothing

‘Governments,’ he says

and then he laughs

throwing his arms up

letting them back down slowly

amused by the motion

‘Voting!’ he yells

and the laughter becomes shrill

he starts coughing

‘I can see them for what they are, these politicians

these so called kings

and leaders,’

he points to the television

where some man in a suit

is selling his party wares

healthcare and bringing them home

‘Under their skin, if you look hard enough,

you see veins pumping blood,

a brain no bigger than ours,

and a heart in darkness,’

he stares up at the ceiling

where something I can’t see

is keeping his attention

‘Why rule others?

We can’t even rule ourselves.’