poem of the day 01.18.10

everything from the sea

it was an oyster
maybe a clam
drenched in butter
and it had been in my mouth
for a long time
couldn’t chew it
couldn’t swallow
it was like having a rubber ball
in my mouth
and everyone watched me eat
my friend
his brothers and sisters
his mother
and his father who had
made the special seafood dinner
to celebrate their annual trip
to the beach

finally i got it down
swallowed it whole
nearly choking myself
and then i chased it
with a half-liter of diet pepsi
thinking everything from the sea
was fine with me
oysters
clams
crabs
lobsters and fish
they were all safe.
i was going back
to turkey and chicken
chickens are ugly
to look at anyway
and i heard from a good source
that turkeys are so dumb
they’ll drown
staring up at
the rain.