poem of the day 04.23.12

stoned

i take the first batch of recyclables

into the basement

the newspapers and cardboard scraps

the super is down there

sweeping away everyone’s mess

he greets me curtly and then stops sweeping

so i know that we’re going to have a discussion about things

i just want to warn you, he says to me

about?

he smiles sadly

some of the neighbors are asking again

the super stops there because i know what he means

he means marijuana

they thought that it was either you

or the guy who lived in 1D

but he moved out, the super says

so? i say

so……

look, man, we went through this last year

the wife and i, much as we want to, don’t smoke pot

we wouldn’t even know who to buy it from

that’s what i told them, he says

i told them that it was the guy in 2J

you know him, right?

always happy and shouting,

shaking everyone’s hand and saying hi

the forty five year-old who still skateboards, i say

i tell them if they want to know

who’s smoking the weed here

to go up to 2J and talk to that guy

but they still think it’s us, i say

some of them do

we stand there for a second

i wonder who’s trying to root my wife and i out of our situation

the old bat who’s always sitting on the bench

in front of our apartment

or the brunette bitch who’s always walking her dog

and complaining to neighbors

about the amount of booze bottles in the recycle bins

neither of them have jobs

and are always nosing around the building

looking for some gossip or news

i wonder what it is about us

that makes them think we’re the ones doing

all of the drugs in the building

my greasy hair and unshaved face?

my desire to take the trash down in my underwear?

what despicable, typical cunts those women are

no one can ever leave anybody alone

in this crumbling empire

look, the super says to me, don’t worry about this

if someone bothers you, tell them to get fucked

i shake a fist

i’ll make them wish

that they were never born, i tell him

we both laugh

the super goes back to sweeping

and i get back on the elevator

in the apartment are all of the other recyclables

waiting to go downstairs

all of those booze bottles

and beer cans

but i let them go

i sit on the couch and wait for my wife to get home

with today’s batch of wine

think about ringing the guy in 2J

when i get the chance

see what he’s been up to lately.