Ares Once Fell Down
     the Steps of the Acropolis
          Because Zeus Pushed Him

i always thought that the Meat Puppets were
a group of ivory coast Kenyans
who became lost over, not in, the Mediterranean Lake
or Adriatic River, or somewhere east of St. Louis
but not near Dewey.
nevertheless my last girlfriend, whose first name
i couldn't pronounce and last name 
i couldn't spell, divulged to me 
the secret of their meat.
"few things ever belong to you,"
she whispered
"not you, not your body
but a giraffe hoof is a good gift to give."
see she smoked a lot of early
Dylan and read Esworthy in her sleep
so i'm not sure I believed her,
but i did believe in the way she
let me sample her Aphrodite.

WriteAPrisoner.com

Susan Smith

i will make sure that i send you lots of letters
because i know how lonely
prison can be, particularly, when family doesn't write.
ungrateful children could at least send a birthday card or two.
i wished you had posted your personal ad right after you confessed
because i could have gotten a lot of brothers to write
to you when i went to a march in Washington about a year
after you messed up.  most of them would have surely had
something to write to you.  except one brother who told me
that he had just gotten to the point where security guards didn't
follow him around the stores as soon as he walked in and he didn't 
appreciate cops thinking he might carjack kids in Carolina.  but
he was a lawyer and you know how they are.

i have a couple of puzzles to send you like these new ones called
"how the hell could you?"   and "what the fuck is wrong with you?"
i can't figure them out, but i'm sure it will be easy for you.
i'm sorry that i can't help you with the rainbows, beaches, and waterfalls,
but they will still be around if you can get paroled in 21 years.  
maybe Mickey will be waiting with flowers.  when you are released.  
his little mice children will be grown up by then.

i heard that you had met a couple of new friends, guards who
used to work there until you had to tell everybody how good 
they made you feel.  i'm so glad that you are a Christian and enjoy going to church.  
and you like to write, too.  now i know you didn't ask, 
but maybe you should go to church and write
"i will teach my children how to swim before i strap them in a car," 
a hundred million times.  i know that being the sensitive, caring, 
and kind-hearted person you are, you will understand.  We can start from there.

Sincerely and judgmentally yours,
God

P.S.  I know how to swim.