My Friend Poem by RIC BASTASA

today i read your poems
and they are bland
like sandwich without
cheese and mayonnaise.

i empathize with you
but you never know how to
write empathy in poetry

your choice of words
is like tending a garden without
any flowers except plain grass
and dead twigs
no butterflies or even wasps
nothing about the valor of the ants
or the flamboyance of the
sissy dragonflies

i pity you
but somehow i like you
for being dumb hardheaded
investing so much time
in poetry rather
than medical technology

i like you once when
you made a poem about sex
and the details of the kama sutra
that was what was most exciting
about you

of course, you have never written
about Jesus
how he walked on the water
or Moses or Abraham and their
religious triumphs
which is the only miracle
known by me from you

i like it more
when you hinted that sometime
we meet and drink and be merry
(and here is the most awaited cliche)
for tomorrow
we die.