Jay Passer

THE WAITING ROOM

you might think,

this’ll be my last

Pink Lady,

the teeth, yellowing,

unconsciously carved over the

years,

crunching solid flesh and

savoring the juice.

and what about that time out on the bridge at

3 am

when you dared me to climb up the barrier

and flail my arms about?

good times.

there's something lurking in the dark side of my brain

like an incoming aneurism

or a blow

from some alleyway intrusion.

something not based on a 80’s horror flick

or old-age home visits to grandpa

back when I was prepubescent.

you might think, this

could very well be

the last New Yorker cartoon

I ever read

Jay Passer's work has appeared in print and online since 1988. He is the author of 10 books of poetry, including The Black and the Blues, from Alien Buddha Press, and They Lied to Me When They Said Everything Would Be Alright, from Pski's Porch Publishing, both released in 2018. Passer lives and works in San Francisco, the city of his birth.