Eulogy at the End of a Production Kitchen Shift

I was halfway through 25 lbs of pesto
when I got the call that you died

You took a walk
went into a building
they said it wasn't good
and you never came out

Simple as that

I went back to work
everything seemed
mechanical, sick

The blade groaned
it was useless

delicious
but useless

No funeral
just a party
you said

you look past the sickness
you look past the veil
and you toast

so I'll do that

and I'll probably bring up
how you looked just like Ted Danson
and how you hated when I told you that

and we'll laugh

He's a handsome man, Tom

get over it

© 2014 Lee Kitzis

Miracles

I’m on the bus heading to work
my stomach is killing me
a vegetable cleanse the Mrs. and I are doing

An old black man in a fisherman’s cap is reading from the bible
He is an ordained member of the ministry of bus yahoos

I can tell by everyone’s face
they’re not having it

Especially the old Jewish ladies in the handicap section

He’s blocking the exit
for Jesus
He’s yelling
for Jesus
The kids are drawing dick pics and Latin King tags on the walls
for Jesus

And the #50 plods on
the driver working the brake
contemplating night school

He won’t do it

Too many tiny miracles at home

Too many big ones screaming on the bus

© 2014 Lee Kitzis

Dave and Buster

Today I lost my in-law's dog
and an old friend from the liquor business

the friend by accident

the dog
like most good old dogs
and most good old people
just got tired

lied down
and didn't get up

the cats start fighting

yowling and growling

I pour a Benchmark neat

and listen to the kids play basketball

then Mingus pisses on the plant

If you listen to the dead

they tell you to move on

So here I go fellas

here I go

goodnight Dave

goodnight Buster

sorry plant

© 2014 Lee Kitzis

Albany Park

When insomnia has finished staining your eyes

w/ the perpetual winter
the crows have picked clean

the wonderment of junkyards
you have fallen deeply out of love with

and now
you are left w/ steel and granite
and a bottle of wine
in the Mexican neighborhood
your grandma warned you about

the raises have been small
and the murders have been many

the mailman has a flamethrower

the squirrels have knives

the robin reported a break-in
in the tree

and the cops never showed

Oh, god

I don't ever want to leave this place

© 2014 Lee Kitzis

October Magic

When people tell me
baseball bores them

I understand

Ours is a secret society
we have our own language
spoken over pitchers of Old Style in bars
in our den 3 Bloody Marys in

it is the poetry of math

from the traditional verse
of AVG and HRs

to the scat
of sabermetrics

when the pitcher talks
into his glove

you read it in the catcher's nod

and when it works

it's glorious

and never thrown
down the center of the plate

we're a strange breed
brushing the corners

When people tell me baseball bores them

I understand

© 2013 Lee Kitzis

Hump Day Blues

I had a dream
I sang like
Howlin' Wolf

I didn't want it to end

I woke up
and took the bus
to work

the Slavic beauties
with torn looks
like somebody
just killed their dog

the same faces I see
every day

and nobody was singing

much of anything

and I didn't want it to end

I woke up
and walked into a warehouse
in the middle of nowhere

and punched the clock
nine minutes late

having collected grays

having collected checks

having collected the gritted teeth
of city bus drivers

and schizophrenic screams

I put on my whites

poured a coffee

and tried

© 2013 Lee Kitzis

The Prep Cook's Lament

We would rather
make love
than make 50 lbs of spiced nuts
or 25 lbs of guacamole

walk the streets
to and from work
confettied with losing
lottery tickets
and security system signs
on the lawns
of the paranoid

and yet we go

and cling to the moments
we can steal

a kiss of the nipple
in the shower

a grab of the ass
in the dairy aisle

pawing at each other

in the German bar

with the midday drunks

we've won

whatever there is to win

and the world can feed itself for a change

© 2013 Lee Kitzis