Punch Line

‘course it was funny. Why else
would seven paperboys laugh
after Mr. Zudoni left?

Two weeks of doorknob delivery
he says everyone
everyone, Man!

Some old lady with blue hair and a teaspoon
gets wet when she gets her afternoon paper
after Buddy tossed it from his Schwinn.

Missed the porch, big deal,
so everyone suffers cuz of him, right?

Well, I had to do somethin
to lighten up Buddy,
Little Joe, and Harry.

and it was funny;
Mom, she even laughed
when Dad told the joke at dinnertime.

Yeah, everyone laughed
but Sammy Brown Eyes
lookin down.

Boy!

What’s the matter with him,
he never heard the word before?

Ya’d think we took his bike,
and trashed that piece a crap
the other side of the tracks.


a re-write of a poem submitted for Pandora Glitter's challenge on Race RelationsJanuary 18, 2011