Boot TheoryA man walks into a bar and says:Take my wife–please.So you do.You take her out into the…

Boot TheoryA man walks into a bar and says:Take my wife–please.So you do.You take her out into the rain and you fall in love with herand she leaves you and you’re desolate.You’re on your back in your undershirt, a broken manon an ugly bedspread, staring at the water stainson the ceiling.And you can hear the man in the apartment above youtaking off his shoes.You hear the first boot hit the floor and you’re looking up,you’re waitingbecause you thought it would follow, you thought there would be some logic, perhaps, something to pull it all togetherbut here we are in the weeds again,here we are in the bowels of the thing: your world doesn’t make sense.And then the second boot falls.And then a third, a fourth, a fifth.A man walks into a bar and says:Take my wife–please.But you take him instead.You take him home, and you make him a cheese sandwich,and you try to get his shoes off, but he kicks youand he keeps kicking you.You swallow a bottle of sleeping pills but they don’t work.Boots continue to fall to the floorin the apartment above you.You go to work the next day pretending nothing happened.Your co-workers askif everything’s okay and you tell themyou’re just tired.And you’re trying to smile. And they’re trying to smile.A man walks into a bar, you this time, and says:Make it a double.A man walks into a bar, you this time, and says:Walk a mile in my shoes.A man walks into a convenience store, still you, saying:I only wanted something simple, something generic...But the clerk tells you to buy something or get out.A man takes his sadness down to the river and throws it in the riverbut then he’s still leftwith the river. A man takes his sadness and throws it awaybut then he’s still left with his hands.#RichardSiken