Good Morning

When the sun came out

I was already soaked

my socks were damp

I was shivering

When I arrived at school

you greeted me

“Isn’t it a beautiful morning?”

In reply

I smacked

the coffee out of your hand.

I Want a Coyote T-Shirt

I recently

spent twenty minutes

researching the differences

between wolves of coyotes:

wolves are larger

coyotes appear on fewer truck stop t-shirts

coyotes are also anti-social

I assume their loner tendencies

signify a propensity

for deep thoughts

they also have bushier tails

on an evening run

through the endowment lands

I spotted a coyote

only thirty yards ahead of me

on the windy trail

it was jogging

ahead of me

so I matched its pace

to follow it

to get a better look

unfortunately

the coyote was startled

by my curiosity

and began running

so I ran too

soon the coyote

abandoned the trail

I couldn’t justify

trampling through the brush

and so gave up the chase

I only wish

I could have told the coyote

that I’d choose its shirt

over a wolf shirt

because I like bushy tails.

Home for the Holidays

The lights are out in downtown Everett

Christmas music is blaring from street corner speakers

as I walk from the bar to the hockey arena

Our team is not good

but we Everett people

are a classy bunch

we stay civil

even when our team is down 6-2

at the end of the second period

A pony-tailed man

three rows up on center-ice

holds a hockey stick

with a teletubie

dressed in a referee outfit

hanging from a noose

I think it’s tinkie-winkie

He leads us in a liturgy

leader: HEY REF

congregation: YOU SUCK

leader: That’s for you Johnson

you jackass

While it doesn't look like our team
will mount a comeback of any type

it still feels good to be home

especially for the holiday season

celebrating it with thousands of drunks

the way my family has always observed the holidays

with blind, irrational, and misplaced rage.