WHAT THE HELL

WHAT THE HELL
he was talking on his cell phone
walking around a big
green mail depository
searching for a mail slot
that just wasn’t there
around and around he went
thinking maybe he’d missed it
on the previous time
after three times around the thing
he stopped and looked around the parking lot
to see if anybody was watching
he didn’t want anybody
to see him walking circles
around a mailbox
when he saw me I smiled and said,
“I think that’s one of the ones
where the mail carriers pick up the mail,
not where you drop it off.”
he said something into his phone
took it away from his face
and shouted, “well, what the hell?”
I laughed back and said,
“man, if I knew what the hell,
I’d let everyone in on the secret.”