Everybody Needs Company

When I go into the wilderness alone
       the geezer next door got a black puppy
I take with me my former self to discard
       I hope it doesn’t terrorize my cat
friends, non-friends, women I loved, if I did love
       today is Monday – soup for lunch
my parents and younger siblings around the dinner table
       I slept well last night for a change
is it my birthday, will I get a glove
       I cannot play little league
some tuna fish on toast sounds good
       because every kid has to have their own glove
yesterday it rained all day steady all day
       I am wearing two sweaters trying to stay warm
I wish I had a baseball glove to take with me
       into the ghost forest.

E. Martin Pedersen, originally from San Francisco, has lived for over forty years in eastern Sicily, where he taught English at the local university. His poetry appeared most recently in San Antonio Review, Danse Macabre, Neologism, Quail Bell Magazine, and California Quarterly, among others. Martin is an alumnus of the Community of Writers. He has published three collections of haiku and short poems, Bitter Pills, Smart Pills and Chill Pills, a chapbook, Exile's Choice, from Kelsay Books, and a full collection, Method & Madness, from Odyssey Books.