Juice kickin ass in CT photo by MDG

Juice meets Danwich photo by MDG

CARRYING HER LIKE PENGUINS DO

Life happens between tooth aches
and the two seconds after
lift off
I catch my breath
A room to dream in even if
they never come true
I price used books
in a used bookstore downtown
Black Boy Dubliners the
9/11 Commision Report
Outside the sky falls
on old ladies in sun glasses and tortilla skin
boys drunk in sun burns and jello shots next door
God's rifle cracks like some
outlaw in a Louis Lamour novel
and we weep
For the man sitting in
the children's section with his daughter
She calls him poppa
and her blonde hair
makes her seem like a picture
that hangs on the wall of heaven
or a picture that comes with the frame
on some store's shelves
somewhere
She wants a Scooby Doo book
Poppa poppa poppa
her voice
an untuned harp but true
They have been sitting back there
for three hours
and his head hangs
like a broken sail slapping
breeze
Lost at sea
How can I say
May I help you
When I can't
People help save whales
but a whale would never save a person
He usually rides buses in the rain
burying her head in his chest
carrying her like penguins do
The library is closed on Sundays
so he is here
amongst the aroma
of human suffering yellowed leaves
in Araby
The self-help
section is upstairs
Kid's books will only teach you that
policemen are our friends
doctors really care about us
and how to brush your teeth
He is an earthworm washed onto sidewalks
only to be stepped on
or fried when the sun finally shines
on everybody else
I let them sit back there
and when I see him slipping
the Scooby Doo book
into his back pack
I pretend not to see
I look down I price books
Fast Food Nation
The Human Zoo
Sometimes A Great Notion

© 2008 Jason "Juice" Hardung

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