Waiting For Jim (Longing For Jim) Poem by Chris Schleier, Jr.

I wait for my colleague at the cinema.
He and I just met at the office on Monday.
I brought up Guys and Dolls, and
he said he saw it on the big stage.

I knew I had a friend.

I think he's finishing his work
on the Miller account.
They tend to procrastinate
their governmantal dues.

It has been sixteen years
since my last trip to the cinema.

My father, Colonel Jim Stanley
of the United States Air Force,
died towards the end of
The Pirates of Penzance...

In the years since I got married,
and Molly has been good
for my healing.

Recently, though, we have
been strapped for cash.
Infants will do that.

Jim might pay, but that's if
he's nicer than I realize.
Just because a man likes a
good musical doesn't mean
he can cover the show.

He is a hard worker, though.
In what little I've seen,
he is fierce and deliberate
behind the desk.

Jim is going places
(while im strapped to the ground,)
but at least tonight he is coming to see
South Pacific with me.

Maybe the cinema will be kinder
to me than the last film.
The father died in a plane crash
and his son, Jim Jr., was devastated.