beneath the surface

he was mostly silent
thruout the haircut

“you married?”
the barber asked

to which he replied
w/ a simple “no”

“no wife
no children
not even a girlfriend?”
the barber pried

again he only
replied “no”

the barber
spoke again
as he put the
razor to the back
of his skull

“you look lonely
at least you need to go
to brooklyn
get a massage
the girls
are very nice there
if you know
what i mean”

he just sat there silent
in the black cape
as the blade scraped
his skin

thinking to himself
that everything the barber
said was a lie

he didn’t want anything
the barber had mentioned

sure he was lonely
very lonely
but only for another world

even the stars
weren’t enough

Rob Plath is a writer from New York. He is most known for his monster collection A BELLYFUL OF ANARCHY (Epic Rites Press 2009). His newest collection is MY SOUL IS A BROKEN DOWN VALISE (Epic Rites Press 2019). You can see more of his work at robplath.com Read other articles by Rob.