jesus hats
wears a black hat
that says jesus is lord
i call her jesus hats
but have no clue
why i pluralize it
for dramatic effect
for my own amusement
but jesus hats and i
are on the bus together most days
the after work bus
the one where the russian women
shout into their cell phones
jesus hats plays sudoku
and sighs at the russians
while i read fred voss poems
wondering how he does it on each page
anticipate my first scotch of the night
and think about killing
all of the russian women on the bus
i never see jesus hats
read the bible on the bus
my guess is that the hat is enough advertisement
that way there’s no overkill
jesus hats wears her jesus is lord hat
like i wear my pittsburgh steelers hat
and to an extent
i can acknowledge that we have different gods
other than that she seems pretty normal
she works at staples
and wears green and black converse all-stars
that are pretty trendy in all honesty
but i can’t help being annoyed
at jesus hats sometimes
because she’s so quiet yet direct in her reverence
some evenings i want to saddle up next to her
i want to take that sodoku book
and toss it on the piss stained floor of the bus
look into her huge glasses and blue eyes
and say level with me, jesus hats
do you really believe in all of that ethereal bullshit
what with the recession
and the famine
domestic violence
global warming
and the wars that are raging?
don’t you see what i see?
but i know i won’t do that
people aren’t built to speak to each other that way
unless hidden behind a computer screen
the only thing i’ll do is keep taking this evening bus
for as long as the job will have me
and jesus hats will play her s sudoku
with the dedication of a saint
and i’ll daydream going home to whiskey and beer
she’ll have her god and i’ll have mine
and the russian women will continue to shout
into their phones
and we’ll all pray
for something as simple as a moment’s silence
John Grochalski is a published writer whose poems and prose have appeared in several online and print publications including: Red Fez, Rusty Truck, Outsider Writers Collective, Underground Voices, The Lilliput Review, The Main Street Rag, Zygote In My Coffee, The Camel Saloon, and Bartleby Snopes. I have two books of poetry The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch (Six Gallery Press) and Glass City (Low Ghost Press), and a third book, The Sun Causes Cancer forthcoming.