Poem: Pal

Pal

Cinema clown on the

center stripe, cleansing the

world of appurtenance.

A hat on a table.

Poet in a parking garage.

A baseball. A pen.

Deal a deck of human flaws,

take none. You are an

augmented note, non-essential,

a little bit off.

Yes, I love you.

But you should fear your friends;

they know your crimes.

Let me buy you a hot fudge sundae.

Let me buy you a cast.

Let me be the first to sign it.

First printed in

California Quarterly

Orange, California

Photo by MJV 

From the collection Fields of Satchmo