jonberger

Of course you didn’t say goodbye to me in life.
You had no idea I was gone.
But now, afterward,
take a moment to reflect
and focus:
final thoughts?

Say them now.

Three missing fingers?
Pessimistic outlook indeed! Seven extant hand-appendages:
optimism at-work!

Sundown means a lot of things.
For now, it means the day’s coming to an end
and the dark is coming
and though there are golden hues
to introduce this,
we are all entering a blind time.

Tools will help us
a little
but the black is coming.

Night approaches soon.

We will survive it,
most of us.
We will endure this period.
It is short,
and the dawn always comes,
if not always bright.

But we know the dark will return
and sometimes,
it lengthens.

It would be a harder world
if all the rubber had already been extracted from the planet
and there was no longer anything we could make
to bounce off of.

That is why we must do everything in our power
to take everything off of this globe
that we can rubberize
so we can protect ourselves
from the harder edges in life.

Just save ourselves from danger with cushions
by excavating everything.

Fellow exploiters: get to work!

We’ve talked about this before: if you had telepathy,
you’d know my apologies are sincere
and our conversations
would be severely truncated,
but I don’t think I’d like to propose that policy any further,
because if you had telepathy,
you’d know where I was going,
know what your birthday present was,
know when you were looking fat
know where your surprise party was going to be
and know when I was cheating on you.

You might also know that I said that, honey,
so I’m going to have to telepathically induce you
into forgetting that I ever said that now.

It just makes everything so much easier
since I’ve gained telepathy,
after all…

One door slams shut,
breaking the glass in its windowpane,
leaving room for someone to break in,
killing the former tenant,
allowing a brand new family to move in!

Every beginning ends a different story
and vice versa,
if you choose to think of it that way,
so your work is never really done.

I was recently asked how to make your last million dollars.
I immediately answered: invest two million
in your poetry chapbook.
Nobody followed up on my response,
so I assumed they understood it perfectly.

Would anybody like to go out to shop for denim or toys?

Later today, we shall meet.
I cannot tell you how long I have waited.
Of course, you know when we set the appointment,
but you may not know
when I first wished to invite you
to this lunch.

It was well before this restaurant opened.
I can’t tell you why my courage swelled
only now
just that I have found myself prepared
and properly funded
to offer you this meal
at these prices.

I only hope I’m worthy
to be here with you
to share them.

They have laid a new patch of dirt
on my block.
They say it is to put up a tree.
There are no trees now on my block
so this promises to be a good thing.
With one tree, this will will increase the natural scenery
available infinitely
bringing us far closer to the organic world.

So far, it remains just a patch of dirt
but its potential, dammit, its potential…

I don’t think I understood romance.
I know I didn’t understand her
when she asked to stay the night
before she’d asked me out.
I don’t think she understood romance
any better than I under her
– or myself for that matter.

I didn’t know what to do
after putting her in the loft bed
and listening to her tell me
how she hated her mother
and getting out of high school
was really going to change things.

I listened to her for a while
as her breathing altered
from when she raged
to telling quieter stories
to when she finally fell asleep.
I looked up at the bottom of my loft
where she softly snored.

I was not sure what role
I was expected to play with this girl
or what role
I was prepared to fulfill.
I didn’t know for sure whether
those two areas converged at all.

The morning
did not clarify as much as I’d hoped.