Poem of the Day: The Son I'll Never Have

The Son I'll Never Have


by Mark Wunderlich






The son I’ll never have is crossing the lawn. He is lying on an              
imaginary bed,


the coverlet pulled up over his knees—knees I don’t dare                    
describe.


I recoil from imagining him as meat and bone, as a mind


and hands stroking the fur of his pet rabbit.


I never gave him the accordion I used to play, my mother and I


in duets: “The Minnesota Polka,” “What a Friend We Have in          
Jesus,”


never watched him push noodles into his mouth with fingers


while I wished he would use the spoon shiny with disuse.


I am free from longing to be free; I do as I please,


my money is my own, all the mistakes I make are only my                    
mistakes.


What is it to look at something you made and see the future?


What is it to have someone made by your body, but whose                  
mind


remains just out of reach? I’ll never know. Come here, little                
rabbit.


Eat these greens. I will pet your cloudy fur with the mind’s                
hand.

Overheard at Table 2: Cuticle Infections

Oh that's what this was.  It was on his face and on his hands.  It stays in your system forever.

And that’s the problem, if you get that infected and that’s what happened to me, I cut my cuticle while doing something out side and believe it or not I got the first one when I stepped on a nail.  Went through my shoe.  Pulled my shoe off like this …

Put your shoe back on, Stinky Feet!

Overheard at Booth 4: Abby Rhodes Speaks to her Chiropractor

Abigail Rhodes, talking on her cellphone, says, "Oh I know it was just another day without back pain and I really enjoy being without the back pain and I thank you so much but I can't help but wondering now without the back pain, what really do I do?   It's like, sometimes you get so used to something that even though it weighs you down and is this mind-numbing constant pain that once you get rid of it you don't know what to do with yourself ....


"Yes, yes, it's EXACTLY like getting a divorce!  I know, right!"

Overheard at Booth 3: ISIS Camps

Feral: Heard there were ISIS camps being set up all over the country.  Is that making your ammo sales go up.


Gordon: Not really.  Maybe it might in the communities where these ISIS camps are.  'Round here it's really whenever people think the government's coming for the guns.  Then ammo sales go up.


Feral: So, Obama then.


Gordon: Yeah.  He was great for sales.  Trump, not so much, really.

A Quote for the Day

"Faith and knowledge lean largely upon each other in the practice of medicine."

— Peter Mere Latham

Peter Mere Latham (July 1, 1789 – July 20, 1875) was an English physician and educator.

Overheard at Table 4: Dialogue with a Compassionate Conservative

MR:  I can’t believe that the ISD has 70 million dollars for a high-school football stadium but still can’t feed all the grade school kids.

 

COMPASSIONATE CONSERVAIVE: That’s not the school’s job that’s the parents’ job.

 

MR: Easy to say when you can.

Overheard at Table 4: Y'all Better Pray

"Y'all just better pray there ain't no Fanatical-Islamic-inspired attack of any kind because the resulting Fascist police state clampdown will make the Patriot Act look like a day at the spa."