54

Don't try to stop me I'm
beyond the powers of any
shampoo.
I know the horror of
dutch elm disease.
I have seen what it did
to my people.
I figure we're about eight months away
from the time your life's worth a
handshake and three packs of Lucky Strikes.
I try to keep that sort of thing in mind
before throwing any weight around.

"No-risk loans regardless of
your previous credit history."
Give them a ring and
the only heat you'll be getting
will be through a cardboard coffee cup.
I'm telling you this as a friend,
buddy.
You could be supporting a
marvelous diversity of marine life.

Note to Poets of the Future:
I lived long enough to see my worst fears confirmed.
Maybe longer.

58

OK here's the score:
I think I can get you off with
thirty years.
They can beat you,
put you in isolation,
withhold food,
deny medical care,
apply electroshock and
perform illegal experiments but
in your mind you're
still free.
I want you
always to remember that.

And presto a
wonderful pasta salad.
Three hundred cigarettes later I'm
counting my friends (one two) and
wishing they'd push off and
die.
Six twenty-one the
first blue light
under my venetian blinds.
It's morning.
I have a disease and
it isn't malaria.

©1996 by Sal Salasin