Notions

Poems by Roger Pfingston

Not easy to avoid, they show up
when he least expects: chocolate
silk pie in the Kroger freezer,
a dark cigar from the Your Choice
tobacco shop. The other day

he had a notion to cut his throat
or just quit and live like a madman,
free himself of the enormous pity
he feels for the newly born,
escape the uncontrollable sneer

that scars his face when others
speak of angels. He's tired of his head
in a sieve like a moron's hat.
He has half a notion to just rent
the porno film he's been thinking about,

step inside the curtained room
at Hollywood Divine and let his
devil of a heart have its way,
let those snooty film buffs
bite his one-eyed daddy!