poem of the day 11.11.10

norman mailer bookmark

the norman mailer bookmark
looks up at me
while i’m creating another
gloomy symphony in the morning

i think about using it to kill
the cockroach
who has overstayed his welcome

but the norman mailer bookmark
talks to me

it says
look at you kid
almost forty
gray hair and nothing to show for it
but a sore back and sore arms
union dues and another hangover

the norman mailer bookmark is smug

i don’t like its smile

it was a genius already at forty

a legend

i’ve grown sick of legends

so i take the bookmark off the bathroom sink
go after the cockroach with it

but he’s too fast

then i take the normal mailer bookmark
and toss it in the garbage can

i go and get the one
with shakespeare’s dull face on it
and stick it in my book

at least i’ve read his shit.