Jameson and Swedish Fish was a Bad Idea (Birthday Poem for Brian)

Long night
last night

Five minutes into my workday
Ian dropped his phone

asked me to pick it up

I did

there was a picture of his balls
as the screensaver

he ballphoned me good

One of the old guys
who volunteers
tried to engage me in conversation

He pulled out
his entire arsenal
of senior citizen bullshit

“Museum’s dead”
“Howabout that Blagojevich”
“Went to Disneyland with the family in ‘79”
“Satellite crash”

It is Thursday February 12, 2009

last night
was a long night
of Jameson and Swedish Fish

It was Brian’s birthday

and we ate and we drank

Today
there’s a bipolar Gummi bear
in my stomach

It’s got nowhere to go

like an old guy volunteering

at a dead museum

yammering away

while I try to write a poem for my buddy

The ballphoning never ends

© 2009 Lee Kitzis

For Dan, Lindsey, and Brian

The pretty Hungarian girls bundled up at Hollywood Grill
the Czech bars are empty
and the hostels dark

I’ve got work tomorrow

‘cus poetry only pays the printer

but I have my friends
and my pinto beans

so that counts for something

but not much

since this is a short poem

and I forgot to buy tortillas

© 2008 Lee Kitzis