A Swell Place to Be
She would explore his body for hours
while he lay there watching old movies
on Channel 22 or just stared at
cracks in the ceiling. She did not
take his disinterest personally; what
she was doing was more scientific
than sexual, anyway. It Happened One Night
was his favorite movie. He liked
the little wooden bus carrying Gable
and Colbert that seemed to crawl
all night up the Eastern Seaboard.
There was romance on that bus; passengers
danced and sang. As she examined
and re-examined his pale, rather ordinary body,
he thought about that night on that bus.
Gee, it must have been a swell place to be.
Hiding in the Spotlight
He both hated attention
and desperately needed it.
Hid from the world behind
the very rocks he later
hurled at the world to
announce his location.
He told me every spring
the same robin would return
to his yard and perch
on his shoulder while
he smoothed its feathers.
I didn’t believe him
until I saw it happen.
After that I believed
everything he told me
including his claim that
he invented a cure for
stagefright that he called
Hiding in the Spotlight.
Isn’t that physically
impossible? I asked.
I do it mentally, he said.
When the bird didn’t come back
one year he wrote a song
called Robin’s Last Spring
and performed it for a thousand
adoring fans in Fort Smith,
overcoming his shyness by
hiding in the spotlight.
The Marlboro Man
I wasn’t surprised the man
who called himself
Assistant-to-No-One
turned out to be just
another timid old fool.
We all want to be
somebody we can’t be.
I want to be The Marlboro Man
climbing on board with
everything I own in a saddlebag
when a bus stops at 2 AM
in the middle of the Mojave;
a sleepy beauty whispering a warm hello
when I plop down beside her.
I wasn’t surprised
Assistant-to-No-One
turned out to be
subservient to all.
Sometimes I call myself
The Marlboro Man,
and I’m a security guard
waiting for something
to happen that never does
on the screen in my shack.
Musical lights
I call the 60 watt bulbs
in my tiny apartment that
I keep burning with tips
made covering Dylan tunes.
She would explore his body for hours
while he lay there watching old movies
on Channel 22 or just stared at
cracks in the ceiling. She did not
take his disinterest personally; what
she was doing was more scientific
than sexual, anyway. It Happened One Night
was his favorite movie. He liked
the little wooden bus carrying Gable
and Colbert that seemed to crawl
all night up the Eastern Seaboard.
There was romance on that bus; passengers
danced and sang. As she examined
and re-examined his pale, rather ordinary body,
he thought about that night on that bus.
Gee, it must have been a swell place to be.
Hiding in the Spotlight
He both hated attention
and desperately needed it.
Hid from the world behind
the very rocks he later
hurled at the world to
announce his location.
He told me every spring
the same robin would return
to his yard and perch
on his shoulder while
he smoothed its feathers.
I didn’t believe him
until I saw it happen.
After that I believed
everything he told me
including his claim that
he invented a cure for
stagefright that he called
Hiding in the Spotlight.
Isn’t that physically
impossible? I asked.
I do it mentally, he said.
When the bird didn’t come back
one year he wrote a song
called Robin’s Last Spring
and performed it for a thousand
adoring fans in Fort Smith,
overcoming his shyness by
hiding in the spotlight.
The Marlboro Man
I wasn’t surprised the man
who called himself
Assistant-to-No-One
turned out to be just
another timid old fool.
We all want to be
somebody we can’t be.
I want to be The Marlboro Man
climbing on board with
everything I own in a saddlebag
when a bus stops at 2 AM
in the middle of the Mojave;
a sleepy beauty whispering a warm hello
when I plop down beside her.
I wasn’t surprised
Assistant-to-No-One
turned out to be
subservient to all.
Sometimes I call myself
The Marlboro Man,
and I’m a security guard
waiting for something
to happen that never does
on the screen in my shack.
Musical lights
I call the 60 watt bulbs
in my tiny apartment that
I keep burning with tips
made covering Dylan tunes.
