A Penny Short

It was the kind of day
where even the sweat hides from the sun
in every small crevasse
to try and stay in it's liquid form.

To keep our mind on the heat
we were playing this fun game,
I forget what it's called,
where we turned the A/C on and off
every 5 minutes
to maintain the delicate balance
between keeping both us and the car
from overheating,
and we were failing miserably.

We pulled into the next gas station
and ran inside to wait for those
little sweat pools to freeze
and grab an ice cold Coca Cola Classic.

The cashier relucantly rang me up,
and the total was $1.01,
and of course I only had 1 dollar,
and every penny I could've found
was probably melting under the car seats.

I looked at him sheepishly
like a boy at his first school dance
in his father's sweater vest and skinny tie.
He looked at me with such scorn,
such scorn,
and scrunched up his fat neck
to nod down to a makeshift sign
above a little dish filled with pennies.

The sign read,
"Need a penny,
Take a penny,
Have a penny,
Leave a penny."
So I followed the sign
word for word,
over and over
and kept ending up a penny short.
I never did get that Coca Cola Classic.

Words

"Do you have a way
with words?" she asked.

"Well, I'm sure if might,
I've been always and,
what?
Hey!
So, yes, I think."

End of Analog

The longest running TV show
is about to go off the air in early 2009.
It used to be my childhood favorite.
I would sneak downstairs
when nobody was watching,
turn the TV on quietly,
and just sit and stare,
letting my imagination wander
while images formed on the screen
and filled my mind.
I credit that show with having
the greatest impact in my life so far
on my imagination and creativity,
although it was always banned by my parents.
My mom would inevitably ruin my fun
and say something like,
"Jacob, I don't like you sitting there
staring at black and white static."

Evergreens

Sometimes, during the harshest seasons,
it's easiest to find our roots
by shedding all external layers
to the wind and cold,
and tracing the leftover core
down to the darkest places,
to dig deeper into a new source of life.
But, most of us are pines,
forever ashamed of being exposed.

You Still Pretend, Only Not Like You Used To

Lipstick and fancy dresses
lose their wonder
when learned
to be applied correctly,
and acceptance begins
falling in the wrong hands
like snow in a city gutter,
slowly melting and draining all identity,
only to leave that leftover black exhaust and sediment
to amass into emotional walls
and more makeup.

You can ratchet up your spine,
but you're still a lamb
in lion's clothing.