Fish, Pontiac, Prozac and the Things That Last

on and on it went
and it was on the radio as I
drove thru Pontiac
and it would help if you
understood Pontiac


if you understood

vacant buildings
and broken sidewalks
and lawns of dirt
in front of houses
cut up into sagging
apartments and
it was a program
on public radio and
a breathy reporter was
interviewing this
chef from New York
with a thick New York
accent and he was
preparing some
kind of Italian sushi,

you know,

raw fish with olive oil
and salt but it had
to be the best salt
and the best olive
oil and nothing
over processed
and the female
reporter tried that
raw fish and
went yum as
she blathered on and on
about how great it all was
and I could hear her chew
that raw fish through
the speakers of
my truck as it
rattled through
Pontiac past
two little boys
not quite school age
playing with toy trucks
in a yard with
a pit bull chained
to a post
and I thought
about my friend
who started taking
Prozac and how
great Prozac
was for his sex life

how it made him last
just that much longer.

 

David LaBounty
David LaBounty is a poet from Michigan and the current writer-in-residence for Megan's Closet, a literary workshop site with a print publication forthcoming. His novel, The Trinity, should be published later this summer 2007.