Maybe you would have been better off, Bernie,
In that Mexican prison with conjugal visits
From your suicidal, soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. Better off,
Than five years later, stuck on the 13th floor with Dotty
And her bastard. The first night you left, eloping
To the Buena Vista Motor Inn across from your liquor
Store. You told the man at the front desk to intercede all calls
Except from me. Do you remember, Bernie, the one time
I got through, while she was letting the laxatives weep her vacant
For the eleventh time that day. I walked down Franklin St.
The next morning and together we made our way to the Bay.
You swam out to the edge of our favorite pier, past the old Riverboat
On display, and caught the tail of an ancient grey whale
Headed for the Gulf.