With a Pie and a Sad Luck Story

When yesterday happened a singular mood swept the room.
I had been walking down Elm road lower than the elms,
but when no one was lingering with a pie and a sad luck story
I came in and picked up the tinsel.  Stephen was telling a story,
"Do you know what a Brahman is?  A Brahman is a very good
and gentle kind of man who lives in India and who treats
all beast as if they were his brothers.  There is a great deal
to know about Brahmins but that is enough for the story."
I had once crooned with my setter over an instinctive
loneliness but that was about all I could muster from my unborn
penmanship.  I 'd thought I'd head for home, but the house
snuck off to Long Island.  The afternoon survives but
becomes a darker representation of itself.

When Wednesday Walks Home

I know I'm a loner
with a fine bottle cap collection.
And I know you call me honey
and trespass anytime you like.
But when Wednesday walks home
tousled like a young pilgrim
I could do her laundry.
Bake pies just to keep the heavy
scent of pastry in the room.
She is as good to me as an unexpected lunch,
a profound hammock, a Chilean stamp
with fountains and, look!
Neruda in the distance.

That Was Good Salsa

In a sad tobacco voice
I stepped into class
A trumpet was scrambling
back to its seat.
More importantly
my wrist, laid open
by a butterfly wing
caught it.
I have seen this before
but never
with the eggy film
that covers the whole
celluloid.
The whole story
like the last line of a classic.
I will never return to you
though you did taste good.

Why He Met Her For

We would spend our days
jumping from stool to stool
and talking of Rossetti.
She was a glad daft
wasn't she? And then
the trees would shudder
and a leaf would bend low
enough to lap up a puddle
And like fools we'd lap up
right beside it
And in the end there
would be such joy
in remembering
the sadness that we felt
when a swollen snowflake
dampened our eye
and we called it by name.

Morning at the Zoo

Morning at the Zoo

The orangutan told me that I was wasting my life.

That I should quit my job and go move out to Idaho

and fish.  "That is what you want to do anyway." he said.

"Look at you."  I said angrily.

"You, you're stuck in a cage."

"Who are you to give me advice?"

Who is in a cage? he said.

"Ha, don't try that on me," I said.

"I don't buy it."

"You were probably raised here

by baboons." I said

"What do you know about being out?"

He looked at me with his sad eyes.

I said, "I'm sorry."

"It's just that I felt you kinda of attacked me."

"No," he said

"I was just trying to give you some good advice."

"You come here every day and we talk and talk."

"And I just thought, I could finally be myself around you."

"And since we are friends, I could tell you how I felt."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It was the sweetest piece of advice I've ever got."

I decided not to visit the other animals

and left the zoo shortly after that.

Time to Jump

The plane was loud and noisy.
Larry took out a chocolate bar
and waved it in the air.
I waved my hands back at him
to tell him I didn't want a piece.
I was on a diet and rubbed my belly.
I thought this was a rather simple
way of expressing myself.
And for a moment I thought how easily
my gesture could be misinterpreted.
And also I wanted to thank him
but I left that out.
He was too far away for me to mouth
a thank you.
I was really lying anyways. I wanted a piece
of that chocolate bar and had he insisted
I would have easily taken a piece.
Larry shouted at me but I could barely hear him.
I raised my hand to my ear
and shrugged my shoulders.
He took out a pen
and wrote something on a piece of paper.
He passed the piece of paper to the left of him
and around the fuselage.
I watched how everyone unfold the note and read it.
Their eyes looked to the next person
and then they passed it on.
Each hand did the same and this is how it went
until it came to me.
The note was folded and beginning to wrinkle
I opened it and read it
It said, "The chocolate bar was never intended for you."

Stalling for Time

Larry was a fine cop
until he got beaten up by Ramona
He'd always come into the bar
and just sit there for hours after that.
After a long week and a
long night of just sitting at the bar
I asked Joe to go over to Larry.
"Why do you want me to go over to Larry?" he said
"I don't know, to cheer him up." I said
"He's just been coming into this bar
for this past week and just sitting there the whole night." I said.
"So have we." he said
"Maybe you can say something to cheer him up" I said
"You know how bad you feel after your wife beats you up."
"But I am not good at cheering people up." he said
"After I tried to cheer my son up for flunking out of college
he moved to Montana."
"Maybe you should go and cheer him up yourself." he said
"Maybe I will." I said.
I sat there a long time and said nothing.
The bar, if it could get any darker, did.
I got up and Joe looked up at me for a second.
I walked right passed Larry and out the door.