Once Upon A Napkin
for T.C.

i.
without the muses,
white paper, blank verse

without the music,
staff to cross the desert with

a lot of sand
with little laughter

ii.
what stage, what page
of volcanic eruption
represented here

what experiences
from childhood
expressed by musicians
on stage

iii.
instead of friends
warm and fresh and full of flesh

what of who prefers skeletons
prefers the dead

apotheosis of war
skulls heaped up
to go bowling with

iv.
who thinks
I belong to her
leaves me to wonder

about my right
to quick-witted,
lovely, with-it women

deceives me into thinking
I belong to the left out
to misfits

with who’s not included


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2007
1:34 a.m. 06.04.07