exhibit a we are friends in a sleeping bag splitting the heat we have one filthy pillow to share and your lips are in my hair someone upstairs has a rat that we laughed at and people are drinking and singing van halen and slayer on a ukulele tear
exhibit b well we found an apartment it’s not much to look at a futon on a floor torn off desktop for a door all the decor’s made of milk crates and duct tape and if we have sex they can hear us through the floor but we don’t do that anymore
and i lay there wondering what is the matter is this a matter of worse or of better you took the blanket so i took the bed sheet but i would have held you if you’d only
let me
exhibit c look how quaint and how quiet and private our paychecks have bought us a condo in town it’s the nicest flat around you picked a mattress and had it delivered and i walked upstairs and the sight of it made my heart pound and i wrapped my arms around me
and i stood there wondering what is the matter is this a matter of worse or of better? you walked right past me and straightened the covers but i would still love you
if you wanted a lover and you said all the money in the world won’t buy a bed so big and wide to guarantee that you won’t accidentally touch me in the night
exhibit d now we’re both mostly paralyzed don’t know how long we’ve been lying here in fear too afraid to even feel i find my glasses and you turn the light out roll off on your side like you’ve rolled away for years holding back those king-size tears
and i still don’t ask you what is the matter is this a matter of worse or of better you take the heart failure i’ll take the cancer i’ve long stopped wondering why you don’t answer
exhibit e you can certainly see how fulfilling a life from the cost and size of stone of our final resting home we got some nice ones right under a cherry tree you and me lying the only way we know side by side and still and cold
and i finally ask you what was the matter was it a matter of worse or of better you stretch your arms out and finally face me you say i would have told you