THE DAY I RETIRED FROM MY JOB AS A POET I DECIDED TO WAKE UP EARLY BEORE THE SUN ROSE AND LOOK AT THE BASIL PLANTS
I hadn’t watered them in a week
because my job was crazy-busy
but I did water them last night
after I decided to quit my job
I just went up to my boss this AM
and said, “I quit, boss!”
just like they did in the movies
and I took the trolley home, the kind
they also used to have
in movies
they were black and yellow
and then just loafed around
the apartment house until
I remembered ...
my basil plants! My damn
basil plants! I was about to water
them but then I remembered
that you should only water them
right as the sun begins to set,
a friend of mine told me that,
and I have many basil plants
so I just waited
and just as the sun began to set
and before Gunsmoke was on
(this happened in about 1958
when Matt Dillon was still alive
and the sheriff on Gunsmoke)
I watered my basil plants and
then went to bed after reading
the morning papers
(there were morning papers and
evening papers in 1958 and kids
on bicycles threw them on your lawns)
I wasn’t sure when a good time
to look at basil plants might be
(my friend was gone, after all
this all happened in 1958)
but it seemed to me that the early morning
would be best even though I had no reason
other than that to get up
(but what could be more important than
looking at a freshly revived basil plant
behind your apartment as the sun begins
to rise and you have nowhere to go?)
Why do people have basil plants
when they have apartments ?
Well I think it is because they want
to feel like they have homes
This was true in 1958
and it is even truer now
(in 1959 and 1960 and
so forth and so on)
Anyway
that’s not
the important thing
The important thing is
that I quit my job
and that I have
basil plants
and the sun
will soon rise
and soon
I will see them
I will see them
again
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