Great!

by Mike Foldes

(these greetings are a bit like candy hearts
We used to get as kids and trade like some
Kids traded trading cards, baseball, football, basketball,
And in those days that was about it, there were
No hockey, NASCAR, dead presidents, ugly critters,
Except maybe characters from MAD Magazine
That escaped from their hallowed pages
And made it to the big time. GREAT, WOW,
I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE MINE, MY FRIEND.
The first dose of LSD I ever took had been
Dropped onto one of those candy hearts,
But I can't remember now what it said,
Something like, "Get ready because once
You go up you'll never come down," or,
"Get out the Kleenex because this is going
To make you laugh so hard you'll cry, and
The tears are just not going to stop there."
So now when I drop those notes of ablution
On readers of e-mail, and even hand-written
Notes noting the time of day, the day of the year,
The year of the Lord, etc., I am reminded
That time itself is not much more than memory
Stored in a safe place until it's wiped clean
by the torrential downpour that comes
late in the afternoon of a very, very fine day.)