Red Sea 
Broadside Number 4



Goofy's Brush With Despair






from The Last Century: Selected Poems
copyright  1992 by Laurance Wieder
Picador Australia
140 pages; $7.95 US



for information, or to order
contact Red Sea
fax: 516.475.9673 / voice: 516.475.1142
e-mail: mosesmuses@redsea.com


Laurance Wieder
Goofy's Brush with Despair

I went out and bought myself
A new suit off the rack
For a long time I'd been hoping
The right girl would come along
But when I got back home
I looked in the mirror
And began to cry, and changed
Into my old clothes again.
I'm more comfortable looking
At where I've been than where I'm going.
As it says in this here book,
There's no way of telling whether
Other life exists beyond the stars.
It's mighty dark tonight.
I wouldn't sleep well knowing
Someone's staring down on me
From outer space. In fact,
I don't sleep well not knowing.
Last time I fell asleep I dreamed
That agents of a foreign power
Headed by Black Pete, had chained
Mickey and Minnie to a rock
And rolled it off a cliff
Into the ocean. Only I
Could save them, but I stared
Like I was hypnotized
And didn't care. I don't think
I could have saved them anyway.
At least I could have tried.
I'd better drink some lemonade.


#
.