MEMBERS

I come from a line
a long line of singers
midnight drunken choir members
some have sung
as ragged beginners
others so old they can’t remember
the words to the hymns
that soothe a distemper

I come from a line
a long line of dancers
midnight drunken reeling romancers
some have waltzed
young at weddings
the older ones just beginning
to raise their skirts
in unbridled sinning

I come from a line
a long line of poets
midnight drunken killers of romantic love
some have murdered
at funerals
forgetting the outcome
to hurry the truth
of unrestrained lies

I sing and I lie and I write poetry
I die many times unnaturally
I come from a long line
of comics like me.

Art by Leonard Baskin