LAST NIGHT MARK
read at Brady's Cafe
When he first said Hi
I did not recognize him
Second level balcony
looking down much hairier
than when last I saw him
When he got to the mic
and said he was from
Erie Pennsylvania
I yelled out to all
"Isn't that where
Ron Androla lives?"
and Mark answered yes
and then I followed
"And Lonnie Sherman?"
and again he responded
with a smiling yes
and I plugged my favorite
poets and reminded the mass
that there is reality
just East of us
and sometimes they
should just put down
their pens and pencils
shut the fuck up
and listen when it is told
AT EIGHT-THIRTY-TWO LAST NIGHT
my mother pulled in the parking lot
with her U-Haul truck rental and
Izuzu 4-wheel drive in tow
I watched her climb down
out of the truck and make her
too slow oxygen deprived trek
to where we sat eating dinner
and waiting with worry as she
did not call from Breezewood
with a timeframe of arrival
We drove to her new apartment
in a senior housing conglomeration
and I ran ahead to turn on her lights
and waited for my brothers to arrive
We unloaded what appeared to be
hundreds of boxes of "Fragile...
Elephants" and what items we
thought she'd need most in the
morning It was clear which to take
She had labeled them all down to
nearly the content colors
When we got 3/4 of the boxes
inside we realized she had no
where to move...and opted to finish
tomorrow with the furniture
She was tired when we left
and concerned with her
morning coffee most
On the way back home
I realized I just spent
3 hours with my mother
and she had not smoked
a single cigarette
She brought 10 hours
of oxygen with her
incase she needed it
on the way
Already
I feel 43 years
of resentment
exhale
March, 2000 edition