On Being a Poet

When you’re a kid
on Saturday afternoon
your lunch
is probably something like
a salami sandwich
and Spaghettios

and when you’re an adult
it’s pretty much the same
except it’s dinner
Thursday
at 10:30 p.m.

and your milk
is a can
of cheap beer
like High Life
or Old Style

make that a few glasses of milk

and you work tomorrow
instead of school

you finished school
long ago
and realized
most of it’s
bullshit

you wanted to be
an astronaut when
you grew up

and now
you’re all grown up
and serving the astronauts
chocolate-covered truffles
and gummi fruit salad

I was a kid
until I picked up “HOWL”
and that made me want to be a poet

So this bowl of Ramen’s for you
Ginsberg

You fucking asshole

© 2008 Lee Kitzis

I've Always (for Julie)

I’ve always sympathized more
with the street sweepers
and the old men in Jewel
feeling up the tangelos

riding the brown line
back from the locksmith
with a can of Spaghettios
in my left pocket
and a whiskey hangover

I’ve always been a hair away
from being the cab driver
in the porn store
at 3 A.M.
on Thanksgiving

or the guy
who thinks there’s money
in real estate

and I always will be

because
that’s pretty much
what a poet is

and I’ve always loved you

in the way stock guys
love management

and the cab driver
loves porno

and the old man
loves tangelos

and the street sweeper
gave up

and watches
the cars pass

I love you

like Spaghettios

© 2008 Lee Kitzis