Validation
Danny Hamen

He climbed outside;
the intoxicating smell
of boredom was on his clothes. He craved
validation that night, his arms and chest
trembling with longing.  He found himself
in his car,
the moon walloping in his chest,
screaming at him, reminding him of
grinning in ambiguous crowds,
chain-smoking and being witty;
that somehow this interaction would
immortalize him. ‘Not today,’
he said in defiance, out loud, or maybe to the trees
who were watching him.