random poetry

refusal

I decline (again) to attend.

Do not expect me in attendance,
For, my friend, I don't attend.
I do not wait on you, dear doctor.
I will not waste amidst those men
In penguin coats and mirrored shoes
Afire with fake modesty and booze.
I will not wait alongside their wives,
Lovers, sisters, concubines…
I will not smile at the musicians
Or thank the man with the champagne.
I have no desire to stand and listen
To the same stories yet again.
No remembrances of the old glory days
Can tempt me from my cocoon.

Donc, je vous réponds, s'il vous plaît,
As I do every other day
That you've sent an invitation,
Or you've happened to drop in,
Or some lady friend has called
To coax me with her bald
Faced lies about what fun we'd have
And how good it would be
If I would grace poor sir and she
With my presence at the barbeque
Next April, May, or June.

I'm sure I've told her every time
That outdoor cooking gives me hives.
Yes, I know it's wrong to lie,
But would it have been any better
Just to open up and tell her
That she is a horrid, scurvy whore?
I shall never walk through her door.

Put an end to these invasions
And insipid linen invitations.
Cease your sad colligraphications.
(At least spell my name correctly.)
In the name of all that's holy
Let me be.

How often have I bent
Your card into my shredder
And then phoned you just to vent
And remind you that I'll never
In a hundred million years consent
To be companion, wife or lover,
Or subject myself to your intent
That I attend.