A Girl on Bus 73
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
There she stands on the bus 73
Wishfully looking at an empty seat
And wondering if she will be able
To squeeze herself in,
Between people on the adjacent seats
Who have spilled over
Onto the territory that by now
Should have been hers.
There’s an aura of sadness around her,
You can’t know if it is because of her big body
- She will quickly tell you that she got used to it,
It bothered her five years ago, but doesn’t any more -
She can’t explain it,
She thinks it must be because her cat is sneezing,
Her cat is old and might die soon.
What is awaiting a fat girl like her
In this world of smiling beauties,
Is there anything else but an ocean of sadness,
Soft as her eyes, warm as her tears?
House Shopping
Friday, September 15, 2006
This is how it was
I’ve been trying to buy a house for many years
And something would always happen
Last minute,
Like that time when I put money down
On an A-Frame in Bethel, Maine
But that day quadruple murder occurred in
The quiet town of Bethel
Exactly where my property was located,
For the first time in more than two hundred years
Something like this occurred in
The quiet town of Bethel.
This was not my first attempt to buy,
Once I had made an offer for another home in Belmont, Mass
But never heard back from the owner,
Decided not to sell or what I don’t know
And I didn’t check crime statistics in
Belmont, Cambridge, or Boston that day
I am sure there were murders, but nobody
Thought they happened because of the house
I was buying
At that time Bethel murders hadn’t happened
And I looked completely innocent.
Macy’s
Thursday, September 14, 2006
To Macy’s I am going today
Where I will have to pay
With money, plain old US dollars
While I bring with me
Only my melancholy
And times I felt good without a reason
Like three years ago
When it started snowing in my town
A blizzard completely overlooked by the weathermen
I will hold this for unexpected bargains
But if they ask for money at Macy’s
My shopping will be yet another failure
Still, my companion laughs
She looks at me confidently as if we will be together
A thousand years from now