Jon Bennett- Three Poems

The Press

“You win two in a row

bet $3 on the third

and so on,

but as soon as you lose

drop back down to $2,

it’s called a ‘press.’”

The guy looks like an IT nerd

but he’s a pro gambler

and makes so much dough

he spends half the year

following Taylor fucking Swift.

“There’s always risk,” he says

after we take a big loss,

“after all - it is gambling.”

Fine by me,

the 9 to 5 bullshit  has crushed me

and I’m just looking

for something

to finish the job.

You Can’t Win

 

My friend comes and takes me to dinner.

“Let’s talk about your show,” he says,

“...you sucked.  I’d like to tell you

I feel bad saying it, but

I’ve been carrying it around for weeks.”

He’d been carrying it around

and then he gave it to me.

Two German girls out of his league

were at the next table and he started

chatting them up, unencumbered as he was.

I do all this fucking art, I figure

something has to give

either me or the world

but I’ll never give up, although

an old man

saying, ‘I’ll never give up’

is almost the same as saying

he already has.

Mr. Fix-It Can’t Fix Himself

 

Her eyes are red

and her pupils are dilated.

“I was passed out,” she says,

“A. came over

like he was supposed to

but when I didn’t answer

he drove his Harley

into the back of that truck…”

Mr. Fix-It could fix anything

pinball machines, ATMs,

cash registers, bikes, cars,

but when your drunk

at 3am

and the thing that’s broken

is your heart

only luck

or the dawn

can save you.

Jon Bennett is a Pushcart Award nominated writer and musician living in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.  His novel, "The Unfat," speculative sci-fi involving autism and obesity, as well as links to his music on Pandora and Spotify, are available through his website at www.jonbennett.info.