ALL U CAN EAT

There's a cramp in my heart
It's that time of the day
Between the laughing and the bitching
When the truth has found its way:

I'm the handle of the hammer
In some jolly smith's clutch
I'm the keel of the windjammer
Straining at Aeolus' touch

I'm a one-lane wooden bridge
Over a Midwestern, oozing mire
My spinal column ridged
By the jolly tourist tires

I'm a randy slab of flint
Kindling a jolly lass's flame
Until my slickened side is spent
My tinder impotent and tame

I'm an interstate pull-off
A Halloween put-on
A bridegroom's pull-out
A yard sale put-up

I'm the bullet in the gun
The umbrella in the sun
A mother's ticking clock
A father's chopping block

I'm a clown-colored bob
A barbed-wire fence
I'm the one that you rob
For your needs or defense

You took me in your home
And sat atop my perch
Then left me alone
Outside your pretty church.

12/19/96 & 9/1/97

©Evan Hause