Thanksgiving
by Mather Schneider
Jim and Sue had a fight
and Jim walked out the back door
and set off the alarm.
After Sue turns the alarm off
she walks back to the helium tank
and rips an empty balloon out.
The tank whines and the balloon swells
and when you think it’ll explode
she takes it off and ties it
at the throat with deaf fingers.
She gives the balloon to George
who walks it to the dance floor
and lets it go against the ceiling
with the others bumping each other
like dumb ghosts, cartoon sperm
dangling tails without faces.
Jim never comes back
and the crowd never forms
and later when some ass pops
a balloon with a clove cigarette
Sue jumps three feet in the air
and starts crying silently.
It’s another perfect holiday
for all of us down here in Dirt City.
Mather Schneider is a 40-year-old odd-jobber living in Tucson with a Mexican girl. He has
a book of poetry coming out from Interior Noise Press. Visit his blog at matherschneider.blogspot.com.