When I was a kid I used to piss on everything.
We would roam the streets in packs, or just a couple of boys,
Smoke brand name cigarettes and compare how long we could hold our breath,
Drink gin from the bottle, or whiskey and even wild turkey once,
In the little courtyard between the donut shop and the parking lot,
Adding to the mason jars of discarded butts, chew spit, and sickly brown liquid,
Adding our spit, and watching the steam and swirls of smoke from our mouths.

And we would get chinese take out, just a carton of chow mein, or sugar candy from 7-11
Take long drags off a blue green pipe packed full of brittle, spiny herb that was sticky,
so sticky,with the liquified ephedrine or other cheap speed
we were sure our dealer had drizzled over the long budded stems.

And we pissed on everything.
Trees and bushes and walls and the car from the copy shop,
Parking meters and lamp posts and telephone poles, we pissed on anything.
We were kids running around on foot, wolves on two legs but not even cold or hungry.
Just kids, pissing on anything, not even in defiance.

I thought about those parking lot arguments
and trying to blow smoke rings in the rickety Safeway elevator
While I stood on the gravel, ducking a bit behind the Range Rover,
Emptying my bladder in public, just off the street tonight.
One of those leg hopping emergencies that sort of catches you unawares after dinner out,
on an especially cold evening.
A police car had just rolled past, some people walking a little ways away,
I thought about getting arrested or ticketed for public urination. Caught the smell,
And there's a reason for those laws. We don't want piss everywhere, all over everything.
And then I thought, "I don't even remember thinking about this, when I was young and stoned and wearing a much nattier overcoat."

Just hey, I gotta piss. I'll lean against that fence, sure. Oh, there's a useful puddle already.
Never thought about the hygeine or the decorum or any other reason not to--just pissing.
The rain washes it all into the lake, anyways. Didn't it?