The Fort

my uncle came over to baby sit

while my parents had a date night

my sister and I played in the family room down stairs

while our uncle watched the news in the living room

we stripped our couch

brought our pillows and blankets

down from our rooms

we built the biggest most complex fort ever

with rooms connected by couch cushion corridors

ceilings of Rainbow Bright and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bed-sheets

we filled it with our stuffed animals

Wally the Walrus, three Carebears,

a brown bear missing an eye

the right ear encrusted with dried saliva

after filling the fort and

exploring every nook

we left our creation

ran upstairs

to ask our uncle to come down

and crawl inside with us

hoping he’d see more than a mess.

Monkey Prom

The truth is

if I had the choice

between taking

a human with the mind of a monkey

to prom

or a monkey with the mind of a human

I’d choose the former

This isn’t anything against monkeys with human minds

if the question was

which I’d want to do normal hangout stuff with

I’d choose the monkey

but prom is basically just a photo-shoot with dancing

and I’m not sure how the mechanics would work

as far as dancing with a monkey.

New Years Morning

The sun glared off a frost bitten lawn through my window

on the first day of the year, I didn’t sleep off my demons,

woke up early with cotton-mouth and a smile.

This year started in a sun-shine,

as pessimistic as I usually am

it’s hard not to see a good omen.

But people still die on sunny days,

especially cold ones with ice on the roads,

sun in driver’s eyes, and every one staring at the mountains

because it’s just such a beautiful day.