Michael Cartright

NOTE FOUND BETWEEN BUS SEATS

when one is low on money

one creates a little universe

each day

to get by in

a false insulation

against fear

fake your way through it

there's always tomorrow

Spent the winter

thinking about death

& lived through it

The Bluebird by Charles Bukowski

there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I'm too tough for him,

I say, stay in there, I'm not going

to let anybody see

you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that

wants to get out

but I pour whiskey on him and inhale

cigarette smoke

and the whores and the bartenders

and the grocery clerks

never know that

he's

in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that.

wants to get out.

but I'm too tough for him,.

I say,.

stay down, do you want to mess.

me up?.

you want to screw up the.

works?.

you want to blow my book sales in.

Europe?.

there's a bluebird in my heart that.

wants to get out.

but I'm too clever, I only let him out.

at night sometimes.

when everybody's asleep..

I say, I know that you're there,.

so don't be.

sad.

then I put him back,

but he's singing a little

in there, I haven't quite let him

die

and we sleep together like

that

with our

secret pact

and it's nice enough to

make a man

weep, but I don't

weep, do

you?

John Courtney

FLIGHT ATTENDANTS