Life Lesson

When I was 9-years-old
I wrote Service Merchandise
a single-spaced one-page letter
asking for a free G.I. Joe

They wrote me back
two weeks later
saying they could not give me
a free G.I. Joe
but perhaps I could get my
parents to purchase one for me
Service Merchandise has very affordable G.I. Joes

Fuck Service Merchandise
I thought

5 or 6 years later
they went out of business

Good
I thought

I wrote Amoco
for a pack of cigarettes

© 2009 Lee Kitzis

Death and Ice Cream

When I got to work
there was a fire truck parked outside

there were firemen
surrounding a pair of old legs
in old stockings

people gathered around

half of them wanted to see her face

the other half wanted ice cream
from the stand next to her

There was nothing the paramedics could do

They were gone

© 2009 Lee Kitzis