Amazing People
I saw this gentleman
on a TV documentary
It was not a PBS documentary
He was a porno actor in his 60’s
the oldest in the business it said
And he could pull off the inevitable plot
on command
You have it or not I suppose
I need time and reason these days
But I would wager
even Thomas Jefferson
or Albert Einstein
or any man
would consider trading
a bit of their politics or science
for a bit of that particular talent
In A Blaze of Glory
It was someone’s elected son
I cradled in my arms
on a trenched no man’s land
with rubble and stink all ‘round
Must life always be lived in terror
with the fear of a limbless existence
or no existence a constant?
He crawled towards me
as though he saw my life
in a blaze of glory
Silently, he took my hand and died
We were so close to being saved
the battle nearly won that day
I puzzled at his features
I did not recognize him
though I knew everyone
And as I read his name
from the tag around his slack neck
it slowly faded away
Where They Have to Buzz You In
My friend can’t get out
but I can get in
He couldn’t take the rejections
and the Great Recession didn’t help
He never was much with girls
Like a priest in civilian clothes dispensing truth
he could advise you about your problems
and he was pretty good too
But he never did anything about his own
As we watch Two and a Half men on TV
the only other person in the common room
scurries hurriedly away
when I get up to change the channel
to something more neutral
There is no remote to do it
They don’t trust anyone with a remote here
Someone would be sure
to try and use it
to put a collect call in for Jesus
I keep looking at the clock
waiting for visiting hours to end
I wished they served booze here
that would make a visit more tolerable
I do recall my locked up friend tells a good joke
But his face is flat and impassive now
Like he’s in a high stakes poker game
but is confused by the bet
He has forgotten how to laugh
It’s probably the drugs
I’m not sure he’s even that aware of my presence
And why is it that I feel helpless in this place
when I can just walk out the door?
Dumpster Fire Press 