It has come to my attention
that the recently retired gray mare
“ain’t what she used to be.”
But hark, chances are
I will still hear a distant neigh
in tempo with the bugler on Derby Day.
This I am duty bound to mention.
It has come to my attention
that dusk’s hosanna culminates
with a crescendo of “f this s.”
Chances are that when
I join in and
cough up cuss words
I can no longer
pinpoint what exactly
is unsettling me
except everything
all at once.
Hark, my attention span
is cracked by non sequiturs
and even if I’m silent
as a monk
I still hear a distant neigh.
So, I might as well hit a wall
to rail against the vile sameness of it all.
This too I am duty bound to mention.
It has come to my attention
that I was left off
the distribution list of
last month’s interoffice memoranda.
What a glorious oversight!
(Even so, I hear a distant neigh.)
If only I received
a check for each time
I’ve been muted
or overlooked.
Hark, I’d be as rich
as an oligarch
on an ostentatious yacht.
But chances are,
I’d lose it all too easily
by investing in cryptocurrency.
This too I am duty bound to mention–
Litany and happenstance vie for my attention.
Edward Miller
Edward D. Miller was born in 1960 and lives in the East Village of New York. He works as a professor at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.