Malcolm's multitudes

Malcolm always loved to say that people contained multitudes.

And we laughed him off with his books and philosophies and theories,

But he proved it that night in the hotel in Austin, leaning headfirst into

The toilet, throwing his guts in the bowl with the vodka fresh.

And that night, as you wiped the grease from your lips,

You told me about the night your babysitter took you aside

And showed you that you contained multitudes, too.

We left Malcolm crying on the floor of the bathroom of the hotel in Austin,

Staring into each other’s multitudes, chain smoking outside a Denny’s.

Early in the morning, we fell asleep in each other’s arms and destroyed each other with a human stink.