jonberger

UNCLE GREEN

It took some time
– some years –
for you to get your hands
on the prize.
For a while,
you were led to believe
that it didn’t exist
but eventually,
you were able to divine
its location
and, at last,
you hold Uncle Green’s
original demo EP
above your nervous palms.

For so long,
you’ve been waiting
for the chance
to hear the original versions
of the songs
you and your friends listened to
through high school.

This is big.
Josh would be shocked,
Paul appalled
that you’re still following
our early quest
– and Gene would be jealous
that you’ve finally completed it.

Now, at last,
you have every Uncle Green record
ever
and they will never make another.
Treasure this grail you’ve uncovered.
Enjoy the album
– assuming your record player still works.

STEVIE

Come downstairs.
Join me. Let’s go out
for some pizza.
It’s been a strange day
and I need to talk to someone
about something.

I don’t know if I want to talk
about the day
or what it made me think about.
I don’t know if it’s time
to take it on,
attack the issue,
or dodge and weave,
avoiding,
evading until I’m brave enough
to seek solutions.

I don’t know all that I want to do
but I know who
I want to be with: you.

So come out.
Come down.
Go off with me.
Let’s go get a pizza,
take it somewhere
and throw it at somebody.

It’s just been one of those days,
you know?

Rob Shapiro wrote:
“What the fuck is with you, BITCH?”
He did it; not me.

RIGHT TO CHOOSE

So: It’s been a while
since you decided
to become handicapped,
to live your life
with disability
and, while I respect your right to make that decision,
I’ve gotta ask,
how’s it working out so far?
You prefer this path?

Since you’ve gone all crippled
changing your way
from the healthy path
to this,
have things gotten better?
Do you walk taller?
Do you drink easier?
Is being a crip
really going really well?

Did giving up good health for lent
get you better job opportunities
or prettier dance partners?
Has it really been
the wisest choice?

I mean, far be it from me
to get between a guy
and his beliefs
but, being a cripple
has it been worth it?
Don’t you think it’s time
to reattach your legs
and get back to normal?

MUCH TOO LATE

This is where it happened.
This is where they played
their farewell show
to a packed room
of devoted fans love
professing undying love
and devotion
and proffering tears
and dollars
for the last chance
to buy their merchandise.

Of course,
the farewell show did so well
that the band did a farewell TOUR
and then another
and then
a couple of reunion tours.
Eventually, they did an eight-month
“Never Can Say Goodbye” Tour
but by then,
just about all of the fans
who had been so heartfelt
in their earlier goodbyes
had had enough.

Eventually,
the farewells stuck
but the band was too busy to notice
and their too big
to come back here
where it all started
– or, you know,
ended.

DINNER DATE

This evening could have had
a very different trajectory.
If you had worn a different dress
– with less lace
and tasteful rips –
or I had drunk
with somewhat less abandon
or something closer to restraint…
If you had talked less about
your exes
and I had not mentioned that night on ecstasy
or if you’d chosen
a less revealing top
before you started pouring all that wine…

If any of these had been different,
if our choices were slightly refracted,
them I probably wouldn’t have spent quite so much time
in the bathroom
pleasuring myself.

Possibly, it could have taken
much much longer.

The service is running long
and it sounds like
the preacher’s talking foreign
a lot of the time.

I can’t help but wonder:
how did I get here?
This is not my personal church.
That is not my personal Jesus.
It’s gonna take a train to pull me through this
– and nothing good
can come from that.

Of course,
something else could save me.
Deliver me, please,
from impatience.
Sister, I need wine
to consume
and take my mind off
this wretched god.

Let me drink
for liberty.
Let me drink
to forget my dumb decision
to try this church.
Let me drink
to get drunk
and erase this stupid stupid Sunday.