How We Spent the Rent

We spent the rent on pizza
Delivery pizzas
Not DiGiorno's
From whatever place was near us

We got pizza every night
With every topping conceivable
And what the parlor didn't have
We put on ourselves

We ate pizza with frosted flakes
We ate pizza with salmon slices
We ate pizza with chopped up egg yolks
We let the pizza boxes pile up
Until it became a decorative decision
And they reached the already low ceilings
Making the room smell like an oven

We spent the rent on our girlfriends
Taking them to movies
And ordering huge boxes of popcorn
Topping it off with red licorice

We bought them jewelry
After long arguments
To smooth over the cracks
We had created at two am

We bought their mothers presents
On Mother's Day
And only bought our own mothers
Flowers

We took them to restaurants
That their ex-boyfriends couldn't afford
To take them to
And ordered the priciest thing on the menu

We tried to win them back
Once they were long gone
By throwing money at them
And seeing if it would stick

We spent the rent on ramen noodles
We spent it on bean bag chairs
We spent it on late night tacos
We spent it in stride

We spent it on Netflix
We spent it on poetry compilations
We spent it on cigarettes
We spent it on Sprite

We spent the rent on gambling
We gambled on everything
We put money down
On who would lose their money first

We gambled on which flies would die first
We gambled on which of our friends would break up first
We gambled on which rerun of Designing Women would air first
We gambled on each other

And we frequently lost
Quite a lot
In large amounts

We spent the rent in emergency rooms
Where we would wait for hours
While the jackasses our roommates dated
Got their limbs put back into place

We spent the rent in CD stores
Not because we need CD's
But because we had crushes
On the cashiers who worked there

We spent the rent in bars
The bar near our house
The one near the airport
The one in the strip joint

You know, bars

We spent the rent on autographed posters
We spent the rent on autographed first novels
We spent the rent on autographed guitars
We spent the rent on Dean Martin's autograph

We spent the rent on coffee
We spent the rent on dish washing liquid
We spent the rent on conditioner
We spent the rent readily

We spent the rent because it made us happy
It made us happy to spend
To see our money provide fantasies for us
Fantasies that couldn't be
Brought about by rent

We spent the rent because it wasn't real
The money
The idea of reciprocation
The circulation of housing and finance
Not connecting in our minds

We spent the rent and when it was spent
We found ourselves wondering where it went
As the items and ideas we purchased surrounded us
We saw them go invisible
As soon as the landlord
Knocked on our door