"there's hope in poetry, comfort in fiction  like the voice of walt whitman, for example.    i have noticed something  you will have noticed it too  we like truth with lies  black with white  we are the virgin and the whore  you will have noticed this too    so i am led to say purely for example, purely for survival  and speaking of course from my own experience  when i'm drunk it's easy  when i'm sober i try not to love you so hard  will not love you so hard    you will have noticed this too,  for you were on the other side.    [interlude]     in a san francisco loft you couldn't pay for  i could feel your heart beat through the floor boards  i waved my hope around like a cheap flag  whose colors had faded  whose emblem was laughable    what is whiskey in the morning but a clear path to the door  what would uncle walt say to the silent floorboard?  hope?  hope  "