fanniesson -

My father didn't know, and
ate himself to death.
Starting each morning with
a breakfast of eggs & bacon,
...

My father sat there in the kitchen drinking coffee,
reading the newspaper, or working on his poetry
eight to ten hours on his days off from work.
Even longer after his forced early retirement.
...

I think, now I'd be a worthy adversary
two years older than what he was
when he passed on, in fact.
...

Sometimes the old man dies fast
on the toilet, pants down below his knees,
head-smashing against cracked floor tiles.
...

thank them for picking up my trash,
wish them a good day,
they look at me as if I’m nuts half the time
standing there outside in a bathrobe,
...

I knew it was over between Cheryl,
my black girlfriend and me
when I found myself one Sunday afternoon
in some store front
...

On Fridays the Rabbi came
cut the chicken’s necks while
saying a prayer, then hung them
on hooks as exsanguination
...

You wake up and she’s there,
and
it could be a lot worst I admit.
...

Like a kid standing in line for ice cream
‘she wants to be first’,
explaining.
...

It takes two years to kill yourself,
to get to the point you don’t care anymore,
and even if you wanted to.
You couldn’t bring yourself back.
...

One doesn’t become more beautiful with age.
The wife and I both pushing sixty now,
are sure of this one!
...

I look in a mirror and see the old man,
I was told was there from fourteen years old.
...

Death is sitting
on the edge of my bed,
doing necessary paperwork.
Questioning me on my age
...

And when it was over,
when dirt was packed on casket,
headstone moved back in place.
The Mexican labors
...

I’d like to go to Arizona maybe Nevada
sit on the desert floor look at the mountains
and all that sky pray, no doubt cry,
tell God I’m sorry beg his forgiveness
...

She was sent home to die plain & simple.
Paperwork needed and her insurance
didn’t warrant keeping her comfortable
in a hospital bed medicated
...

He walked the dog everyday
the way he said he would,
...

lying in bed 24 hour weather channel
telling me don’t worry
it’s gonna be bright & sunny tomorrow,
pint of ben & Jerry's, box of gourmet
...

I understand when I'm dead I'm dead,
just a soulless piece of meat,
'if there's even such a thing as a soul, lying
in some crematorium somewhere waiting my turn
...

What a place to end it all.
What a place for your last fall
What a place to meet your maker.
Hunting grounds for the undertaker.
...