"Some of us are more outnumbered than others"

John Landry

Deep South v.2 n.2 (Winter, 1996)

Copyright (c) 1996 by John Landry, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the New Zealand Copyright Act 1962. It may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that the journal is notified. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as copying for general distribution, for advertising or promotional purposes, for creating new collective works, or for resale. For such uses, written permission of the author and the notification of the journal are required. Write to Deep South, Department of English, University of Otago, P. O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Looking for signs I am given direction
by the dry brown ring at the bottom of my cup.
The American Dream is an endless series of nightmares
with a full moon taped to the window of a bus.
Some folks still think you
can't flush the toilet when the power goes out.
Strapped for cash I pick two pennies
out of a puddle in a little gypsy tea room.
The mother on the corner was upset with me
when I tried to console her child.
Calm down and the bus will come, she said.
But I couldn't bear the lie and said the bus
will come whether you calm down or not.
Next time I saw her, the child asked me
if two negatives make a positive and
two odds create an even
why can't two wrongs make a right?
There is no bus on Sunday.
Life is the consolation prize.
My old clothes were always good enough
for the corner of a ham on rye.

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