STRAIGHT AND TALL

straight and tall
it was easy to see
who wore the pants
in that relationship
when his wife
and the mother of his kids
was having them pose
for a picture in the park.
“stand up straighter!”
she barked, “now, suck
in your stomach, and
stick out your chest!”
the kids shifted on their feet
too young to know pain
from a band aid on a paper cut
“okay, now smile-no! Don’t
smile that big, don’t show
your teeth. You know you have
terrible teeth!”
the man reminded me
of a well trained Labrador retriever
with a little bit more zeal.
I was sitting in a lawn chair
reading Neruda
and occasionally looking up
to glimpse the pretty girls
tanning on their towels
but after witnessing that exchange
I kept my nose in the Neruda
and once again told myself,
“not for you, dude. At least not now.”

IN AND OUTERS

in and outers
the two girls approached me
and began asking questions
about what it was like
inside the bar
it’s too much for some people
to just walk in
look around
and leave if they don’t like it
they want to know
everything
before they even go in.
first they asked about live music
and then about dancing
I told them they could dance
and listen to live music
then they asked if it was dead
and if so, when it picked up
I told them there were already
some people there
and more would be arriving
afterwards they asked about the crowd
whether it was a younger or older crowd
because they wanted a younger crowd
I answered, “a bit of both.”
finally they decided
that they’d go in and give it a try
and thirty seconds later
they came rushing out
and the shorter of the two
said to me, “ewww. You didn’t tell us
it smelled like BO in there!”
I kicked my stomped my foot on the sidewalk
spit into the gutter
and said, “well, you didn’t ask.”

IDIOTIC CAREER CHOICE

idiotic career choice
I used to entertain the idea
of becoming a journalist
having a beat
and going out on it
coming home and writing stories
just whipping them off
making deadlines
covering the latest news stories
having a press pass
and a boss that could get me into places
and tell me where the action
was going down
then one day
while walking a dog
it occurred to me
that becoming a journalist
would have been one of the stupider
things I could have done
in my life
because deadlines stress me out
and more than anything else
I hate being told what to do

MIDGET KNOW THYSELF

midget know thyself
the first thing I saw
when I left my house this morning
was a midget
dressed up nicely
in her midget clothes
black slacks and a white blouse
and shiny black shoes
she stood across the street
smoking a cigarette
staring into the morning sun
for a moment I considered
how it would be
to go about life
at least a couple feet shorter
than most everybody else
to go to certain shops
to buy your things
and be the one who is obviously different
everywhere you go
but looking at her
these were not her thoughts at all
she, just like everybody else
only knows life
from their own perspective
we only know ourselves
and even the knowledge we have
about thatis very little, indeed

ANOTHER GLIMPSE OUT THE WINDOW

another glimpse out the window
in this room
I sit and grapple
with the truth
and the lies
and that wide open space
in between
that diminishes daily
until death
when either everything makes sense
or none of it ever did.
on the walls
are my maps
marked up with felt pen
all the places I’ve been
but there are so many more
left to see
then from the street
the clip clop of high heels
and here comes
a pretty girl
a petite little thing
in a pink dress
with blonde hair
and knee high boots
goddamn!
she slides down the sidewalk
like a teardrop
tearing a canyon into this moment
of my life
she doesn’t know
she’s the only woman
left in the world
but she is
in my world, anyway
and then she’s gone
around the corner
and I’m alone
staring at an empty street
an empty glass
the maps
on my walls
make me come alive again
wondering just where the hell
I’ll end up next