19 April 2013

almost certainly black


after the third drink
he christened himself
‘yankee doodle dan’

he threw up both hands
and shouted ‘hooray’
before he noticed
he was the only one
celebrating
but that didn’t dampen much of anything
he ordered a round for the table
and that got ‘em talking
again

they said
‘dan
where you at
and how did you get so fat
you used to be rail thin
and always running
what happened   man

                what happened'

‘dan’ chuckled to himself

there aren’t many things in this life
worth compromising your health
but the one that keeps popping up
is the pursuit
            of wealth

which is what i’ve been doing
on my way to hell
      and yes, i do have a few stories to tell

there was a tall man
in africa
he tried to make me drink some water
that wasn’t water
do you know what i mean
he wasn’t trying to poison me
well
i mean
that water wasn’t poison
but his words were
his faith was
i forget his why

but remember
his because
he said

the whole thing came to him
as a revelation
and did i see jesus that way
he was a little taken aback
when i told him i’d never met the man
that i sold bibles from nineteen to twenty-three
but never believed a word of that thing

he said
are you a muslim
on a cairo street
just past supper time
i couldn’t help but laugh
and take it back
i told him jesus was

almost      certainly

 black

then he pretended to have a heart attack




12 April 2013

several kinds of fools


i have been several kinds of fools

i’ve even read the bible   twice
no   wait   three times

you see

i was once alone for a great while…

if you’ve read it before
well
it’s still as much of a mess as it always was

and
if you haven’t
well

don’t bother
i mean most folks only use it
as a weapon these days anyway