poem of the day 12.07.10

great comedy

my mother is reading books
by david sedaris

david sedaris is so funny, she says

but i never got into him

no reason

i don’t find him funny

maybe i just don’t get intellectual humor

larry fine is funny to me

to be stuck in the middle
of a lunacy like that cracks me up

which i guess is why
i read the daily newspapers

with all of the murder, war,
genocide, rape, and crooked politics
floating around this ball of gas
it’s hard not to laugh at the world

i get amused by the politicians
running around scrambling for words

amused by leaks and deceitful diplomacy

amused by the countries
always content to play hero or villain
on the global stage
when we know that they
are full of shit

so eat your heart out
david sedaris

because i get a small chuckle
from disaster after disaster
especially the ones
that could’ve been prevented
with common sense

and even as i stand here
with the rest of you poor stooges

oblivious to the answer

perched on the cusp of the great degeneration

planning a candlelight vigil for
the damned

stuck in the middle like larry fine

taking a hand to the face
a wrench to the nose
a hammer to the hand
and a nyuk nyuk nyuk from the government

i find it to be a great comedy
watching the united states of america
slouch slowly toward the third world

there is a cold comfort
in watching two hundred years of progress
drip down the drain

it is a cold comfort
or it is a warm fear

i cannot tell

but i laugh regardless
of the answer

because crying never solved anything

and i fear it’s much too late
to cry now anyway.