us,

me

sitting at a table ordering

this cup of coffee as the

mudlark

strangles.

those good people

the worst celebrities often support the most noble

causes,

some because so directed by their

publicity agents,

others, of the less famous

variety,

out of their need to be

accepted as good

souls.

beware these who rally too often to

popular causes,

not because the cause is

necessarily wrong

but because their motive is

self-serving—the cause being

their cause.

those people who swarm to

the ringing of bells and

speeches to the gatherings of

the righteously

indignant—

and often those who

ring the bells and give the

speeches—

are far worse as humans

than that or those they might

praise or support

or preach or rail

against.

think, would you want

one of these

smiling on your couch

on a rainy March night

or

any night

at all?

horse fly

the pimpled young man with his cap on backwards

came up to me at the racetrack

and asked, “who do you

like?” and I answered,

“don’t you know that when you talk about that

the horse never

runs?”

he acted as if he hadn’t

heard: “who do you like in the

exacta?”

“I don’t bet exactas,” I told

him.

“why?” he

asked.

“because they take 20 percent off

the top,” I responded.

he acted as if that had nothing

to do with anything.

in a further effort to delete him from

the scene

I stated, “I don’t bet daily doubles,

parlays, quinellas or

trifectas.”

it was useless: “who do you like

in this race?” he asked

again.

“Your Mother’s Ass,”

I informed

him.

as he checked his program

I walked

off.

night cap

there is no avenging angel or red burning devil

there is only me sitting here

at the age of 70

playing with the word.

I have been playing with the word for so

many decades now.

sometimes people see me on the street

and get excited.

“calm down,” I tell them, “it’s nothing.”

the gods have been kind to me, being

neither in an institution or a

madhouse or a hospital.

considering all

my health is remarkably

good.

believe me, I had no idea I would

live this long, I had planned an

early exit and lived with a reckless

abandon.

don’t be angry, I don’t want to

hog the stage forever.

if somebody fairly good comes

along I will gladly step

aside.

I will write the stuff only for myself

and to myself,

which is what I have been

doing right along.

yes, yes, I’ve been lucky and

still am, and please be patient,

I will leave some day,

I will no longer defile these pages

with my raw and simple

lines.

I will become strangely quiet

and then you can

relax.

but for now, tonight, I am

working,

classical music is again on

the radio,

I square off with the

computer

and the words form and