There is no way to
slow time
The father of us
all
Absent father at
that
Siring little
bastards from sea to shining sea.
Even words vacuumed
from pages
Into this swirling
orifice
Smaller and smaller
'Til too many and
too small to read.
People have tried
everything from Retin-A to Rogaine
To a mixture of
Vodka and Valium
Ponce de Leon or
was it Vasco de Gama
Searched for the
fountain of youth.
Then there's
alcohol - fountain of age
But at least you
can taste it going down
What an asshole he
must have been
But no more perhaps
than other entrepreneurs.
Speculating and not
finding
But continuing the
crusade
Until the queen's
money was spent
Underestimating how
universal the laws of time are.
He was playing with
fire
No with the sun
There is not a law
for those who drink A
And another for
those who drink B.
There’s one for us
all
So drink up- and
shut up
He clutched the
flowers to his chest
Imagining it all to
be different
She had not gone
restless and found her way to Florida
Necessity had not
demanded she sell her body.
And the man who had
just called
Had not told him
she was dead in his arms
Yes and JFK was
back in Camelot
RFK still catching
his passes.
The good old paternal
order of America
Was still blowing
up Marilyn Monroe's skirt
And MLK was
peacefully resisting
In the Lorraine
Motel.
That sort of
thinking was good
For a few minutes,
or even hours
But as the effect
wears off
You’re scratching
six inches from your head.
When Roosevelt died
in Georgia
A slow train had
brought him back north
And thousands lined
the tracks
Gloria would come
north in a box.
A box provided by
the great state of Florida
In the bed of a
late-model Ford pickup
Truck beds are for
fish, dogs, or dry wall
Not for daughters.
His little girl,
the blonde
Had talked
of being president one day.
Talked openly of
her ambition
The straight As all
through high school
Might as well have
been Ds or Fs
This message to parents
everywhere:
A does not mean
always
It might just mean
afterthought
Asshole for
believing the myth
Or maybe afterlife.
What would they do
with the videotapes?
Squander the film
like it was another life?
Why not, you only
live twice
Once for real and
once on your loved ones' VCR.
Easter dresses and
Halloween faces
Marching to Pomp
and Circumstance
What a cruel joke,
the camcorder had been
They should cast it
in the sea of forgetfulness.
You never watch
what is captured
And if you do,
those you love stare into the camera and mock
Like washing your
hair at grandmas
Seeing your big
nose in her Delta faucet.
No video cameras
show up in Funeral Homes
Death shows its
credentials at the door
No subterfuge or
false hope or preening for the camera
No green shaving
cream turning foamy white.
Go down Gloria,
down by the river Jordan
And be baptized
with John and the other disciples.
Take flight little
dove and light on the shoulder of Jesus
My daughter in whom
I am well pleased
Before I forget all
the scripture
I have ever read
and believed - be gone.
Crank up the old
Duster and glide into the southern heat
Not looking back -
the way you did not before
Call me with the
little calling card
We bought you at
Wal-Mart when you get halfway there.
And then again when
you get there
And dial it direct
Let it ring twice
And we'll know it's
you and not a telemarketer.
Here take
this testament
And this
sack of half dollars with you
Use them if
you get lost or better yet
Turn around
any time and drive back home.
No one ever
seems to die
On the way
to see the family doctor
You died on
the way to a heart specialist
My darling,
it must have been your time.
