POEM - SEVEN MINUTE LAUGH

SEVEN MINUTE LAUGH
Nielson, yeah
you’ve probably heard about him
in some of my other writings
he’d returned to Wilmington
from some martial arts training seminar
in Kansas City
he’d moved out of this old apartment
we used to share
moved all his stuff into storage before he left
but when he got back
he had no place to sleep at night
told me he figured he’d try the key in the lock
the key worked
and nobody had moved in yet
the beers he’d stashed
in the drawer of the fridge
were still there
the fool bastard called me up one night
went on about how he’d snuck into the apartment
was drinking the beers
and throwing the cans at the walls
just like we used to do
then when he had to throw up
he’d go to a corner and let it rip
poor Nielson
he called our old landlord today
to ask about his security deposit
turns out he never ended the lease
before he left to go to Kansas City
so there he was
paying $800 a month
to sneak into his empty apartment
with his vomit in the corners
beer cans on the floor
sleeping in the bathtub with a dirty sheet
all the while paying
to store his furniture and belongings
a few blocks away
for another hundred bucks a month
I burst out laughing when he told me this
didn’t stop for seven minutes straight
and that was only to ask him,
“well, well, well. Who’s the jackass now?”