my neighbor planted sunflowers
2 months ago, and they looked really pretty,
they might have even increased their property value,
if that sort of thing works,
but i guess my neighbors didn’t know how to take care of sunflowers,
because the flowers died,
and i didn’t know if it would be appropriate to send them flowers
in condolence for their deceased flos mortuus
when you wait in the corner of the room right there,
you kinda bum everyone else out,
and we’re cool and all,
but we’re trying to maintain a certain ambience,
if you catch what i’m putting down,
so, i dunno, maybe shuffle on, or get to groovin…
is what i might say if anyone was there
while reading the squatter and the don,
i wonder which i am,
to whom, to where, to what,
do i belong,
and if this book gives me a papercut,
then, does that not mean that i can put it down
and never contemplate the pain it has caused me
these many moons that seem so endlessly forgotten,
though if there’s one take away from the squatter and the don,
i think it’s that i can go to any plot of land,
claim it as my own,
and there’s not a damn thing you could do about it,
except maybe shoot me,
but don’t shoot me,
i carry my mortality with me wherever i go
Fred Aiken Writing 