Nothing Times Ten by Clifton Bates

 

I was not exactly naked

but threads were pretty bare

I placed three mirrors at right angles

lit nine candles in a pool of shallow water

pissed ten cent schooners in the shower.

I squeezed a rock

and ya know what I got:

nothin times ten.

It won’t always be like this

not for ever and ever

it’ll be like this

jis til the ninth of never.

I was cockeyed with hope.

Image by: D. Sharon Pruitt