25625 Poem by RIC BASTASA

Let me thank the fish bone
stuck in my throat

Let me praise the tooth
aching throughout the night

Let me write about the
rusty nail that pierced

my stupid foot in that
dark garden

Let me remember a white
horse which died because
the grass arrived late

Let me recall the treatise of
the gnat biting the donkey's
ear

Let me check the fruit fly
trapped in the empty wine
bottle tightly corked

Let me know if the rabid dog
which bit a neglected child
in the neighborhood is dead.

I have not learned my lessons
by heart

Give me another time
for me to nail another beginning.