Mark Mistretta

Private Thoughts On Public Paper

Okay, so I draw better with words. It looks
like a lamp. Percolated coffee in France. Pieces
of a map on a wall. Doesn't fit in my glove box.
Another quarter lost. Well, answering machines
are hungry too. Sometimes greedy.

Welcome to my self-amusement park. Fred Astaire
on a hang-glider will be today's midway attraction.
Whose reflections have been in that disco ball? Peering
into an empty mug, it's a start. Paper cup,
metal spoon, drain spout--Are things
random if they're in the same room?

I am bigger than a bread box, but smaller
than a house. I've forged Ed Asner's
signature. It didn't get me anywhere
but the county jail. The crooning (Sinatra,
blurts out the black man) is periodically
punctured by pinball music.

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