Bruce
by J. Diego Frey
Cattlecar, chicken car, people car caboose.
I like red wine.
You like red wine.
We drink beer with Bruce.
Storage building, office building, luggage rack museum.
I have no time.
You have no time.
Bruce is on per diem.
Elementary, tertiary, seventh manifold.
I'm remorseful.
You're remorseful.
Bruce keeps us on hold.
Doppelganger, pterodactyl, ectoplasm scones.
I'll distract him.
You vivisect him.
Let the desert bleach his bones.
Share:
This poem appears in my first collection, Umbrellas or Else (Conundrum Press, 2014).
Among other reasons why I am fond of it, it is the oldest poem in the collection, having been written two decades earlier on a train rolling through Nevada. I like to tell myself that I can hear the sound of the train in the lines. Another thing that I enjoy about it: the rhymes and playfulness. It feels very much influenced by one of my primary literary influences: Dr. Seuss. I also feel like I’m being a little bit Robert Frost-y with the tiny meter break in the second to last line. (I admit to some self-aggrandizing here.) Overall, a poem that I still enjoy reciting in public. A little tip: rhyming poems are easier to remember for later recitation.
....................................................................................................................................................................................
J. DIEGO FREY is a poet living in the Denver area, which is where he grew up and never completely escaped. He published two quite likable collections of poetry, Umbrellas or Else and The Year the Eggs Cracked with Colorado publisher Conundrum Press. jdiego.com