Flashlight Kid Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I want to know there'll be someone to show us to our seats
Young people working part time jobs
Guiding us in with flashlights like an airplane

What time are you going out?
What time is Steve's wife's baby shower?
I thought I was going to be alone
No plastic god reproduction speaking in hushed tones
The refrigerator did not repeat what I thought it said the first time
And I thought of a much bolder friend who expressed his insanity as especially

Especially when you slept with two women in the same night
Especially when you asked me to go to football and basketball games and I always said no
Your car broke down one night and we bummed a ride from a strung-out weirdo who turned off his headlights to oncoming traffic to shock us
We ran away from good times like good times were chasing us

We ran into the woods looking for the kid with the flashlight
Heartbeat algorithim making something complex out of something that should be intuitive
When I disassociated, you brought me back by laughing at my discomfort