Any Given Wednesday

A large board

bed-sheet white

with black tape running

vertical

and

perpendicular

creating boxes

categories

tracking systems

this board hung on a wall

in a funeral home

at 4:07 p.m.

on any given Wednesday

a warm body in a suit and a tie

waits by the telephone

for the sure sound of ringing

a cash register cha-ching

this person is faceless

soul painted with the dark strokes

of a casual indifference

a vampire bat sitting up right

hanging on to the inevitable hope

that Death is out there

thinning the heard

every single day

Death doesn't take a day off

nor does the mortician

because he knows the probabilites

he plays a mean waitng game

hanging in there

like a tortoise holding his water

in the middle of the Mojave desert

so,

back to this white board

hanging on a wall

in a mortuary

upon this board

are hand written

names

in dry erase marker

pretty colors

and if your name

is on this board

you're dead

Jack!

hate to break it to you

but that's just

the way the bubble bursts.