171: I like to read and interpret signs/in all the ways they weren’t meant to be read...

I like to read and interpret signs

in all the ways they weren’t meant to be read

signs like:

           Smoking

NO

           Pets

I have a dog that I let drink beer

but I’ve never seen him with a camel in his mouth, and

I have a cat that snorts catnip

but she’s never been on fire

(even if she is occasionally in heat)

I see signs that tell me:

           KEEP LEFT

           and I think:

Well, I sure as hell wasn’t going to

vote for a Republican

I go to the convenience store.

The sign there tells me:

No shirt, No Shoes, No Service.

So I strip off my pants and underwear

make sure my shirt and shoes are on,

and go inside to see if the sign is right.

At the mall, driving around the back,

I see a sign that says:

“Customer Pick-Up”

So wait around for some customers

I can pick up and bring back to the

convenience store.

The sign outside of Goodwill says:

“We take running cars”

and so I make sure mine is off.

Then there was the sign that read:

“Campus Copying”

and I thought,

“Wow, that’s some big photocopier.”

I want to duplicate a poem on that photocopier

and get it enlarged to cover four city blocks

so I can cry out:

“It’s a sign!

©2010 by Jonathan Neske

All rights reserved.

www.neske.biz