I’ve learned how to be invisible. Balance is key. If
you’re bound, gagged and placed inside a flaming
room, your best escape is through levitation. It’s
before dawn and gently snowing inside my head.
Johan unfolds a piece of origami, says, “I like his
work, but this isn’t a book.” He has a painting of
either a horse performing oral sex on a woman
or a horse performing oral sex on a man while a
couple have sex nearby, depending on how you
‘look at it. He says it’s abstract. One time we saw
a big prawn made out of balloons together. The
five of us were kind of a duo. Now we’re just
hurtling through space. Soon I’ll retreat to the
woods and smear my body with earth-foul.
Discipline is the key to freedom. I have the
technique and the training. It’s my chance to play
a conscious part in the Scheme of Reality. Why
wouldn’t I end it with a fight song?

Jason Bredle is the author of three books and three chapbooks, most recently Smiles of the Unstoppable and The Book of Evil. He lives in Chicago. This poem first appeared in Phoebe 40.2.