poem of the day 11.19.15

i am the great unknown

len

built this beautiful

marble countertop

for this dickhead in a big home

in the buffalo suburbs

it took two of us to carry the thing

me and len

not the dickhead in the big home

who walked next to us sideways

his arms outspread

like we were carrying his first born

a man without the decency to tell us

that there was a step up

from the driveway to the garage

and when i tripped

fell

landed so hard on my knee

that i heard it pop

but still held on to that motherfucking

marble countertop

that len made

for this dickhead in a huge home

who said

jesus christ, who are you guys hiring these days?

a man who wouldn’t even take

an end of the counter

so that i could grab my knee

and roll around on his garage floor

in immense pain

which is exactly what i did

after len casually set his end down

came over and took mine

laughed

said

i don’t know, jer

man, i just don’t know

while i writhed and writhed

and knew as good as i knew

that i was heading straight to the bar

with the want ads

not the emergency room

and that i most certinaly

wasn’t getting a tip

that miserable afternoon.