day ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY

joey america

joey america

loves budweiser

he keeps telling everyone on the circle line

american beer for america

the evening of a ninety degree day

and we’re packed like cattle on this thing

my parent’s idea but i aim to please

although i’ve been battling a fever

and the shits for three days

being packed on anything feeling that way

is akin to death

i can’t even get a budweiser down

i’ve been sober for two days now

and want to commit murder

but instead i sit there and hope

that i don’t have to shit on the boat

as joey america and everyone around him

get up to take pictures of gleaming manhattan

you gotta wave, he says

gotta wave, joey tells everyone

then he shouts and hoots

at every boat we pass on the hudson

screams and chants USA! USA! as fighter jets pass overhead

i wonder where they manufacture guys like joey america

is it the water or the breeding?

some factory out in the heartland?

red white and blue cargo shorts and dipshit sandals

in fact, most of the people around me

are wearing something american

one guy has a t-shirt that says, pride

with an image of a soldier busting out of an american flag

he and joey america should go bowling

that is if i don’t rip the budweiser out of his hands

and push him into the river

never forget! joey shouts when we get to the world trade center

never effin forget! he says, looking around the boat

before he holds his can of beer up to the mammoth building

like a lighter at a rock concert during an anthem

another iconic moment for an iconic city

or maybe it’s just a beer commercial he’s ripping off

because sometimes you can’t tell the difference

between the two in this country.

-- John Grochalski