jonberger

Rain
late at night
when you are waiting for your train
at an outdoor train station
is much more annoying
than rain
when you are home
in bed
In the middle of the morning.

Trust me.
I have recent experience
In the matter.

My friend said he needed a hundred dollars.
I offered him a hundred dollars.
He didn’t ask for it
but he did accept the cash.

I made it a loan
and he had difficulty paying.
He had difficulty paying
and I got frustrated.
I got frustrated
which wouldn’t have happened
had I not made it a loan.

Had I given him the money he needed
he would have been fine
I would have been fine
and nobody would have worried
about the money again.

I did not need the hundred dollars
and my friend did.
My concern about repayment
threatened the friendship.

That is the parable of the hundred dollars.
The moral is money is bullshit.

I don’t know how the mice
have proven smart enough
to open the cereal flap
gnaw through the plastic to get at the breakfast cereal
then escape the box
and close the flap after leaving.

How are they so self-possessed?
Probably
it is just one ubermouse
with telekinesis or ultraintelligence
or some other mutant ability
– possibly magic –
that allowed her
to get in and out.

I don’t understand it
but I am afraid and amazed
and astounded
and feel it must be accounted for.

The story of this mouse must be told.
She deserves the cereal.
Please explain how you achieved
your successes, ubermouse.
All is forgiven.
Just tell me how.

I’ve been jump-flying a lot lately,
just leaping from rooftop to rooftop,
Parkour-style, and finding,
when the distance is kind of great,
that I can just will myself to stretch it,
and keep in the air, even if the jump
proves to be over five blocks.

It’s kind of cool.
I can cover a lot of ground this way,
and do it no matter what I’m wearing,
whether it’s shorts or suits,
yoga lycra or tuxedo.

I don’t seem to sweat in the process.
I’ve been trying to take passengers along with me
but so far that’s just a bridge too far
– though I’ve been able to leap over bridges like this quite often. It’s been pretty super so far.

I’m loving this skill.
I feel so free in the process
just floating to the next jump point
and can’t wait to share it.
Maybe it’ll get easier once I can do this
with eyes open.

I saw there were many poets in the bill before me
which normally would threaten me
quite intensely
but I noticed that most of them shared my first initial J,
except for the one whose last name started with a first initial B, which clearly meant that all the other artists
were acting as precursors to me.

Like John the Baptist for Jesus?
(I don’t really know if that works. I’m Jewish.
Don’t tell the Spanish Inquisition.)

So I think that it really makes sense for me to have followed all the other spoken word people. It might even have been my destiny.
So my follow up set must, obviously,
be an act of glory.

Competition is cool and all
but it needn’t control your everything.
You can live your life
without worrying about
who’s the better lover
the smarter mathematician
the faster taker of public transportation.

These things don’t have to rule your life,
you know.
They haven’t ruled mine
for three weeks now.

Oh. Well,
I don’t care that you kicked this particular monkey off your back two months ago. I’m comfortable with my own accomplishments.
I hope you are, too.

I said, "You can only regret what you didn’t do."
But she said, "Not true!
"You can regret things that you did, too!"
I agreed, admitting, "I believe you.
"And further," I added, not thinking it through,
"You can also regret issues you patiently brew.
"A problem that grew while still waiting in queue."
"Or difficulties blown out of proportion undue
to the size of their previously seen volume."

"Indeed!" I asserted, "Why, you can imbue
regrets due to former queries renewed."
She nodded.
"And?" I requested, "Have you nothing more to pursue?"
She shook her head.
"You’re done in discussing regrets and how to
accrue and associate them with your crew
and get them connected to…
"to…"
She looked at me expectantly. Then: "You ran out, too?"
"No," I said, then nodded my head.
"Kind of regret starting that?" She asked.
I had nothing more to say.

There is now a child living upstairs.
Either that
or a very excitable little person
with ADHD
going back and forth
back and forth
very very often.

I have not yet met my neighbors
which seems stranger
since I have more hours at my disposal,
post-employment.

I was certainly more aware
of the ADHD little person
while I was employed as a remote worker
constantly chained to a computer at home,
seeking unsuccessfully to concentrate
before a screen, with the pitter patter
of banging feet above my head.

Now, I think much less about the neighbors
but I am still vaguely aware of their presence.

I feel certain I’ll meet them someday
perhaps soon.

I wonder if the child tastes good.

How about both?
Is “Both” a good answer?
“All of the Above?”
“I can’t believe it’s not butter?”
What about “We don’t need another hero?”

I’ve got a lot of possible solutions to the puzzle
I can throw your way,
so stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Well?
“Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.”
Does that work?
“A nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat?”
Why about… what about…
“Six divided by the circumference of cake?”
“Do you know the way to San Jose?”
“Do you know Captain Pimento?”
“Do ya do ya want my love?”

What do you think?
Am I getting anywhere close?
All right, let’s try “Password,” but the D and the P are reversed…

I have several poems
I cannot bear to share with anyone
but I cannot bear to delete.

A couple are too dark or personal
to be anyone’s business.

One is part of a series,
but too redundant and uninteresting
to add anything new to the series.

They’re all testaments to my work,
which is why they are so far saved,

but I can’t quite see a purpose

to let anyone know about their existence
– to read them aloud
or put them up anywhere
or write them down in a book
or anything.

They exist solely as files
in this temporary state
where they can easily disappear
a mere step away from deletion.

This is not the state I want for these pieces
yet I have no place better.

Sucks to be them.