poem of the day 12.18.09

so i've been morose and hateful for over a week now. apparently if i'm not up
at 5 a.m. trying to be a half-genius, i'm no good to anyone. class...undismissed. i'm back.

my new hero

he said
i tried reading
tolstoy
but he sucked

hemingway
i tried him too
he had one good
one

but the other one
i read
sucked

salinger
i read him in high school
oh, had to be forty years ago
thought the book sucked

fitzgerald? i asked

gatsby? sucked.

steinbeck?

he sucked too.

hey, melville,
he said,
picking a book up off
the shelf.
moby dick.
i was meaning to read this.
i saw the movie version
not too long ago.

yeah?
what did you think?

i thought it sucked.