ONCE A LEAF
He saw it there on the ground,
Not moving, not making a sound…
It was rather grey,
It’s legs out-splayed
In a sad place to be taken down.
–
It had legs, tail and a shell,
For a dead thing it seemed preserved well…
“Did I, in parking
And disembarking
Last night, cause this poor creature ill?”
–
He got out of his car in grief,
Thinking himself sinner-in-chief…
Pushed it with his toe,
From this angle you know
It really was just a leaf.
–Jonathan Caswell
TAX REFUND SPLURGE
Is there a thing as phantom pain
For one’s missing hair?
Feels like a spider walking around
Behind my left ear there!
–
I had my hair professionally done,
It cost a decent dime…
But it looks and smells so good
I’m glad I took the time.
–
Normally, I’ll buzz cut myself,
Without a mirror I need my wife….
To tell me where are tufts I have missed
Or be embarrassed by not looking right.
–
On the way out from the barbershop,
A woman honked and waved….
She called out “see you, Honey”, I thought
What a nice looking friend I had made!
–
But she was calling to her daughter
Who had driven away a moment before…
If her daughter was a pretty as she was,
I wouldn’t have minded seeing more.
–
I let her red car go past me
As I walked along the downtown…
The breeze felt good on my newly shorn head,
So I really let my hair down(?)!
–Jonathan Caswell
By the Mighty Mumford 