Bathing Suits And Bowling Balls

I've been taking stock lately...

I may not have much time left,

but I'm still not in a hurry.

I sit in the Zocalo drinking coffee.

People pass by and I don't know them.

Sometimes a friend sits next to me

quivering with excitement...

quivering with anger...

quivering with fear.

I say: "there, there..."

and light another cigarette.

I've got a good thing going

ever since my conscience

gave up on me and moved

to Florida.

Death lives next door, he's 

my neighbor. I greet him every

morning, but he needs a shave.

A doggie amigo I know gets

petulant when I don't buy him 

chicken. But, still, he's the best

doggie I've ever known.

There are so many people now,

being "uniquely human" is kind

of a joke.

Luckily, there are many more

comedians.

Will the world end?

What will happen in the stock 

market?

I notice these questions only when

I'm not staring into the sun.

I just start a poem, when, it seems,

I've gotten to the end... oh, yes,

and, balloons.