poem of the day 07.15.10

newly broken scotch glass

sitting on the shitter
reading about the history
of the transcontinental railroad
and i hear a crash coming from the living room

“what happened now?” i scream

“i broke one of the scotch glasses,”
my wife says

“just put my next one in a pint glass”

“well, we still have one of
the scotch glasses left from the other set,”
she says

that’s right, i think
“you broke one of those as well,”
i say
“remember? back in buffalo.”

then it dawns on me
that she broke the glass
throwing it at my head
from across the kitchen

so i shut up and go back
to reading about the railroads
all of those men with genius and ingenuity
pouring out of their head and hands
making something immortal

so unlike us clueless assholes today
who just make a mess
out of everything so very common.