THE ALIENS

you may not believe it
but there are people
who go through life with
very little
friction of distress.
they dress well, sleep well.
they are contented with
their family
life.
they are undisturbed
and often feel
very good.
and when they die
it is an easy death,
usually in their
sleep.

you may not believe
it
but such people do
exist.

but i am not one of
them.
oh no, I am not one of them,
I am not even near
to being
one of
them.
but they
are there

and I am
here.

NIGHT SCHOOL

in the drunk driver's class
assigned there by division 63
we are given tiny yellow pencils
to take a test
to see if we have been listening
to the instructor.
questions like: the minimum sentence for a
2nd drunk driving conviction is:
a) 48 days
b) 6 months
c) 90 days
there are 9 others questions.
after the instructor leaves the room
the students begin asking the questions:
"hey, how about question 5? that's a
tough one!"
"did he talk about that?"
"I think its 48 days."
"are you sure?"
"no, but that's what I'm putting
down."
one women circles all 3 answers
on all questions
even though we've been told to
select only one.

on our break I go down and
drink a can of beer
outside a liquor store.
I watch a black hooker
on her evening stroll.
a car pulls up.
she walks over and they
talk.
the door opens.
she gets in and
they drive off.

back in class
the students have gotten
to know each other.
they are a not-very-interesting
bunch of drunks.
I visualize them sitting in a
bar
and i remember why
I started drinking
alone.

the class begins again.
it is discovered that I am
the only one to have gotten
100 percent on the test.

I slouch back in my chair
with my dark shades on.
I am the class
intellectual.

NOT NORMAL

when I was in grammar school
our teacher told us a story
about a sailor
who told the captain,
"the flag? I hope that I never
see the flag again!"
"very well," he was told,
"you will get your
wish!"
and they put him in the
hold of the sailing ship
and kept him there,
sending down his
food
and he died down there
without ever seeing the
flag again.

it was a real horror
story for the other children,
very
effective.
but it wasn't quite
as effective with
me.

I sat there thinking,
well, it's too bad
about not seeing the
flag
but the best part was
not having to see the
other people.

I didn't raise my hand to
say anything about that,
though.
that would mean that
I didn't want to see them
either.
which was true.

I looked straight forward
at the blackboard
which looked far better
than
any of
them.

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