A POEM - PALMER

PALMER
Palmer was this friend of mine
who never had much money growing up
I had quite a few friends like that
until we went our separate ways
then I had new friends
that didn’t have much money
but anyway
Palmer was living in Maui and
I went to visit him
if anybody has a place
anywhere I want to go
most likely I’ll end up there at some point
at least for a week or two
crashing on their couch
or their floor
or in their van
parked out in front of their house
I just hate to pay for hotels.
so Palmer said to me,
“yeah, come and visit,
it’s not much of a place,
but you’re welcome to stay a little while.”
it sure as hell wasn’t much of a place
it was this cinder block cell
filled with junk
crawling with ants and roaches.
“just about what I expected,”
I said to Palmer when I arrived.
But what I didn’t expect
was that strewn in
with the rotting food and garbage
were little piles of money
on the coffee table
the counter
the bathroom sink
and all over his bed.
“what the fuck is this?” I asked him,
pointing to the piles of bills
some folded neatly
some just crumpled up.
“oh, those,” he said quietly
“well, I’ve got this job
where I make some decent money now.”
I looked around the place
amazed at the number of piles
“so this is what you do
with it, huh?”
“well, I never had any before
so now that I do,
I like to keep it around in plain view.
I like to be able to see it
and lie around in it,
just be reminded that it’s there”
a few moments passed
then he became very serious
pointed his finger at me and said,
“but I know exactly how much
is in each pile, so don’t you fuckin’ dare
try and steal any of it”