Friday, February 23, 2007

I am a poet. This is a poem.

Leo always asks for a poem when I speak to him. And I think to myself, "I'm no poet, why ask me?" Well, I've changed. I have decided that yes, I am indeed a poet. Why not? So here, dear reader, is a poem...


ME AND JOHN CAGE IN A DIVE BAR.

I met John Cage one night in a little bar by my work.
Some nights I stop in there for a drink before I go home.
I like the bartender, but some of the regulars can be pains in the ass.
John Cage was drinking a whiskey sour.

I had a ginger ale.

"Is this a song?" I asked John Cage.
He sort of sighed and ordered another drink.
"Sometimes," John Cage said to me, "I just like a quiet drink, okay?"

Okay.

"But you're dead, John Cage.
Don't tell me this isn't poetry!"
John Cage just sat there,
Staring into space.