Featuring Jon Bennett

My Work is Done

I was sober 6 months
before fixing
my smashed chairs
I went
to the hardware store
bought brackets
drilled holes, etc.
When it was done
I was still sober
but with
mended furniture
So I did
what I always do
these days
I sat down
to wait
for tomorrow.

--

Face Time

It was the heater core

you turn the car’s fan on

and if the windshield fogs up

and it smells like coolant

it’s the heater core

So I went to the Chinatown mechanic

and said, “look, it’s the heater core”

and he looked at the fogged up windshield

and said, “ok, $700”

which is cheap, you have to take

the whole dashboard out to get at it

When I came back the mechanic said,

“I broke the dashboard lens,

but I ordered one off eBay, come back

when I’m not so busy and I’ll

stick it in”

so I said, “ok”

A month passed, he didn’t call

I went by the place

it wasn’t busy, and I said

“look, put it in, you said you would

and change the oil

while you’re at it”

He didn’t like that

me ordering him around

in front of his assistant

he didn’t like it at all

but he said, “ok”

I’d heard about ‘face’ in Chinese culture

and I was worried 

when I picked up the car

Back home I checked the oil

he’d overfilled it by five quarts

which is bad, it’ll rupture your gaskets

and when I went to drain it

the nut was barely finger tight

ready to go

at any time

I changed it out

and never went back

to the C-town mechanic again

He was cheap, but in a way

I got what I deserved.

--

Skin Tag

“You smell like a man,” I said

it was the meanest thing

I could think of

“No, no true!” she said

Her scars were healed,

her ass was

a little too pumped up

but other than that

she was my type

 “You do, like a man...” I said

she didn’t really

and although she could still

hit like one

I always hit

where it hurt

worse.