Mike James: Notes Towards An Informal Elegy

a nurse at her desk said, as i walked past,

your friend is very profane

yes, i said, he cusses creatively

in two languages



***



your hospital gown’s as big as the bedsheet

i’m surprised it covers you

you seem too large for the bed and the room

your breath weaker than yesterday though



***



i always joke at how fat you are

say you are like orson welles without the genius baggage

say you are big enough to “make it a threesome” when you masturbate



you call me snow white and dumbass and three or four words i never learned to spell



***



if i count up all the phone conversations

there are hours and hours

i could add them, make a week or two or three

eventually, i’d have to quit counting



the hours would run out like they do

like the vending machine runs out of junk food or we run out of change



***



i’m going out for coffee and a fish sandwich tonight

if the steelers win, i’ll make it an irish coffee

if they lose, i’ll go back and drink alone



                                      for Jack Wolford, d. 12-16-2005

—

Copyright 2016 Mike James

Mike James (d. 12-17-2023) published in over 100 magazines across the United States. His work appeared in such places as Negative Capability, Soundings East, Chiron Review, and Birmingham Poetry Review. Among his poetry collections are Peddler’s Blues, The Year We Let The House Fall Down, Elegy In Reverse, and Past Due Notices. A book of prose poems, My Favorite Houseguest, was published in 2017 by FutureCycle Press. He served as an associate editor of The Kentucky Review, as an associate editor of Autumn House Press, as the publisher of Yellow Pepper Press, and as the Visiting Writer In Residence at the University of Maine, Fort Kent.