The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel

In an effort to get people to look
into each other's eyes more,
and also to appease the mutes,
the government has decided
to allot each person exactly one hundred
and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear
without saying hello. In the restaurant
I point to chicken noodle soup.
I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,
proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.
I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn't respond,
I know she's used up all her words,
so I slowly whisper I love you
thirty-two and a third times.
After that, we just sit on the line
and listen to each other breathe.

I think I drank so much water I feel like puking again or maybe it was the illegal chocolate biscuits and right now I keep thinking about needing to trim my nails and then going off to study, Bio and History definitely, but my History and Chem books are in school, yes and photocopy some notes, and try to make myself not-fail A math and E math.
And I hope I'll get my guitar later (I hope they remember to bring it down from the guitar room perhaps I should text them again?) so that I can play, oh yeah March exam at Plaza Sing, and...
I sort-of miss you, but perhaps (yes enough time passed for the buts to surface, oh it's 4.44PM now)I keep thinking of the days long buried in rolls of escaping time, and...
I realise that I shouldn't even remember them, that most of the time things aren't as easy.
I'm thinking of joining the guitarians for dinner later, though I don't know if they will be dining at chang2yue1han4ning2 or zhitao's favvv fastfood place, and I prlly can't eat anything unless I want to induce another pukeathon.
I just watched Pride and Prejudice and I find it quite nice, oh and halfway through vanessa smsed me saying that they were rotting in JB's chinese lesson, oh yeah I still haven't replied the text messages, but darn I'm so lazy to reach over for that phone I still don't really like.
Anyway I do find it quite comfortable sitting here and pondering and feeling my thoughts convert from something shapeless to neat words on the page, yes much neater than my own, I think it's quite insane but then again...

You know one word keeps resounding through my hollow-feeling head (like a bell) and it sounds very much like

Pathetic.