Christian Zorka
lifespan
just trying to keep
the wolves from
the door
and then the
phone bill
arrives
$73 for one call
to some relative
in a far-off
land
that someone made
you call for
their birthday
and they won't even
realize what that
$73 represents to
you
so you put
the phone bill
with the others
and sit down to
stuff envelopes
for $6 and hour
and there's
thirty-five years
left until
retirement.
Contrapasso
I have read many books
and been many places
and met too many
time-comsuming people
but my main memory of life
when I look back from
wherever I end up
will be of myself
stood at the sink
doing the dishes.
was it worth it all?
in high school he could often be
seen walking backwards down
hallways and up the stairs;
his favorite times were
when he fell into someone's
lap--and they'd hug (that was
the nature of the school);
now eighty years old,
his biggest thrill comes from
slowly eating cold olives
at 3am while trying to remember
how to conjugate the optative;
none of the nurses will
push him backwards down the
hall in his wheelchair because
they have too many other people
to see.
school reunion
and the girls who got
married realize
their compromise;
and the single
feel they still have
a chance--at least
until 9pm when the
gin fizz sets in;
and the retired headmaster
who married one of his
students can barely
walk--you hope it's
for a good reason
but you know it's not:
his wife looks
ridiculously young
and wishes she were
elsewhere;
the security guard
keeps busy: everyone
remembers him but no one
speaks to him;
a decade's worth
of youth spoil
in the atrium
while a stray cat
walks up the
red stairs;
and the only person
who seems contented
is the guy in the
wheelchair who's
playing the piano:
that's who you
go drink you wine
next to.
