i had to fire him today

i have a weakness
for stray puppies and lost causes
but this one might finally cure me

a pull string Barbie
who repeated

      math is hard
      how do you like my hair

once too often

and sat like the stoned lump
of a lava lamp singing the
why-i-can't-get-out-bed-before-noon
blue note blues
of how his father brings home 100K
and he barely survives on half
so where's his raise

but that's not why
it's because he confused
what electrons he owned
with those that he didn't
and gave a gift of something
from column b, not column a
and now it's in the hands
of God and the lawyers
and he can look at me
with those pound puppy
death rows eyes all he wants

but he can't follow me home
this time

Copyright © LeeAnn Heringer
26 January 1996

"all out of charm"
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