jonberger

Cinquain
may take some time
getting the rhythm of,
but will be finally worth it,
I hope.

No two ways about it, I got in over my head with this one.
When the negotiations got hot and heavy,
I just pulled out all the stops,
and I was just a boy who couldn’t say no.
I got the big screen, sure,
but it cost a literal arm and a leg,
and now I can no longer get the television
into the car, but I can’t drive the car anywhere, either.
This was ridiculous planning on my part.

Of course, from their side:
what’re they gonna do with my body parts?
Are they in the organ harvesting business?
Oh, shit; really?
Maybe I could buy them back?

The mean man was yelling at his wife and kid.
Maybe they weren’t married.
Maybe he just found a random woman and child to abuse.
Maybe he hired them out for the purpose.
I’d rather that, really, but if so, what a lousy gig.
Probably his family, though.
Almost certainly.

They seemed scared,
but kind of used to it.
The son was cowering.
So was the woman,
but she also seemed to have a patience about her,
like if she waited this out,
things would go back to normal,
whatever normal would be.

He didn’t look like he was laying hands on anyone,
though he gestures were excited and spastic.
They didn’t go near either of the two smaller folk.
It was a fucked up enough scene without physical violence getting involved.

I didn’t want to be seeing what I did, let alone…

Anyway, it looked pretty awful,
what he was doing, even if it was just shouting,
and even if it was a cartoon.

Knowing someone on Broadway offers less opportunities than you’d think.
You’d figure – you’d hope –
it would mean endless opportunities for plus ones to glamorous parties
and tickets to amazing shows.
Tickets, at least to the person’s shows, at least.

No, your friend wants you to pay for their show,
the bastard.
That way, they get paid, in turn.
It’s not fair to you, of course,
but do they ever think about that?
Never.

You hope maybe you’ll get one of those “I Heart NY” keychains
sometime, but even that proves to be too much.
Not even a discount.

An autograph from a well-heeled chorus boy?
Not on your life.

These things don’t come your way,
when you know the right people.
Maybe you just need to know the “right” right people.
If you do, let me know, so I can leave mine behind.

Social media is the devil
a temptation that must be denied.
Why, you ask?
Beware, for a question asked
is a story in the making,
and you don’t know the length,
but I’ll keep it short.

Social media gives me access to my old near and dear
which means I can find those from my past
including my old high school folk
which means I can discover all those I used to know,
even the gorgeous Laura,
who forty years ago
either rejected me heavily
or gave me an opening that I misunderstood so badly
that I rejected her.

Social media gives me the opportunity to resolve this ancient mystery
which remains better in its storied state
but I continue to pick and peel
at this opportunity
day after month after decade.

Social media is a demon, indeed.

Hey, yo, if Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,
she is surely down on her luck coming up here,
looking for a handout.
This is not the most generous kind of community.
My landlord doesn’t want me feeding the cats
“because the pigeons might get the wrong idea.”

Still, Freedom looks like she needs a little something.
Thin, ripped, unsteady, weak on her feet,
not hungry for business like the ladies out after midnight
around here, but also looking for company.

I’m not sure what I can offer.
I’m not sure what I can do
to help Freedom out
on this cold dire day.

For frigg’s sake, freedom feels fake if fools fail to follow through.
Really, reality rarely rails against the rude when it should.
Eventually, everyone ekes out existential “eeeks!”
ending erstwhile eventualities.
During dire divisions,
Opportunities are overcome, overpowering other
Manipulative masochistic maneuvers.

It is a danger to approach the heart of spun sugarfor to approach it,
to touch it
to lick it
is to almost certainly cause its collapse
and while I second with an object so fine
would certainly be divine,
is it worth such a cost?

That is not for you to decide.

That is for the heart’s owner,
and that, you know,
has never been you.

Best, then,
to avoid the sweetened heart
and let it be.

Earth Day has come and gone
so there is no need to concern yourself
with the planet anymore.
Consider the time for the planet’s survival past,
and now you should concern yourself with
the whales
or oyster crackers
or maybe comic illustrator’s rights.
Those are all really important causes at this time.

Go on: strike up the band!

We dance over waves of green,
blowing all different ways.
They twitch beneath us as we hope steadied weather
will bring us to a calmer place
but calm never comes
and we sail on above,
in this balloon of beauty,
watching a world,
bewitched,
betwixt wonder and worry.

We’ll be down amongst the dirt grubs
soon enough.
Let us enjoy what little time we have
up here.