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More poems by Jon AndersonJon Anderson | Print this page.Print | View and Write CommentsComments | Books by Jon AndersonBooks by Jon Anderson

Listen, Leo

Jon Anderson

Listen, Leo, remember the lifeboat
we pilfered from what you said
was an abandoned garage sale,

1442 Columbus, not the explorer,
the street? Last night I came to,
retired to the basement to ponder

my position on circumspection,
the fate of the cruel & unusual,
& drink until I passed out.

I had my underwear on & my .45.
I was planning to feast on that bag
of Chicken Shack backs & beaks

we got at the place that went broke,
put my legs up on a six-pack & drift.
Anyway, this eerie glow started

emanating from the sewage pool,
mostly greenish. It winked
so I shot it, Leo, I've had enough!

Then this long low lump along
the wall near the bulkhead
started toward me, so slow

I had time to think. Went
to the attic & came back down
bearing Mr. Double-Aught.

Leo, I perforated the lifeboat.
It has become a dead one,
incapable, now, of surfacing

above its circumstance.
We can never return to it now.
It's gone. Gone like the snow.

Gone like I got a little behind.
It's a sad world, Leo, we fell,
like yesterday's laundry

into the tub, let's face a fact.
There's nobody left like us.
I got a weathered pate, you

got a ticket to Nova Scotia &
I'm swimming beside the boat.
When we gotta die, we're gone.

Leo, I confess, I adore your face.
Give me a little papa kiss.
Give me a muscle up. Leo,

there's nobody left like us.

Added: 29 Aug 2001 | Last Read: 7 Jun 2025 7:57 PM | Viewed: 6587 times

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URL: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/429/ | Viewed on 7 June 2025.
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