Borrowed Time
I’m living on
borrowed time
& I
don’t know
who the
lender is.
Category Archives: poems & short jabs
borrowed time
Filed under poems & short jabs
ants
Ants
There are
ants in
the tea
pot & the
butter dish
ants under
the rug
& in the
sugar jar
ants clustered
around a
crushed peanut
next to
the stove
ants in
his hair
shoes
loose-change
jar &
shaving kit.
He turns
a page
in the
book he’s
reading &
there’s an
ant on its
hind legs
waving its
feelers
at him.
He slams
the book
shut &
heads for
the kitchen.
Two shots
of rye
with a
beer chaser
& then
he showers
& puts
on clean
clothes.
Life is
an hour
glass full
of ants.
He flips
it over
& heads
out the door.
Filed under poems & short jabs
looking back
Looking Back
I heard
back from
Leonard Cohen.
He wants me
to join
his tour.
Unlike the
other members of
the troupe
who wear
snappy little hats,
I’m to wear
a dunce cap.
There’ll be a
gold leash
around my neck &
when Leonard
yanks it
I blurt out
a Shard.
No talk of
my playing
harmonica,
but if things
work out well
there’s an
off chance
of our
cutting a
record together:
Leonard & John,
Looking Back
Thru the
Ages.
My friends
tell me
this is
the chance of
a lifetime,
but I’m a
little uneasy
about the
dunce cap &
leash.
Filed under poems & short jabs
ancient role models
Ancient Role Models
Albert Schweitzer
wouldn’t
step on
an ant
or kill
a mosquito.
Just another
crackpot
with a
reverence
for life,
playing
Bach on a
pipe organ
deep
in the
jungle.
Filed under poems & short jabs
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Living on
borrowed time
he declared
bankruptcy.
Filed under poems & short jabs
america early on sunday morning
America Early on Sunday Morning
Prisoners with
pickaxes in the
rodeo arena at
six a.m.
paying their
debt to
society &
playing rap
music full blast
on a boom box.
Women with
puffy legs
churning like
egg beaters
as they
walk their
leashed muzzled
dogs up
the hill.
America
launching into
Sunday morning,
getting ready
to pray.
Filed under poems & short jabs
