This I Did. by John Greiner

I

did.

I

lost

  trying

not to.

This I did,

but I did not

want to do.

It was done

like a tooth

being pulled,

a car crash,

a hat being

dropped from

the side of a boat

into the Black Sea,

or a justice

of the peace

    with a

Kaiser Wilhelm

moustache

shooting

at a bride and groom

after being paid

for his services

on their wedding day.

Like that

it was done

and in doing it

nothing was gained;

I still have all

of my yellowing teeth

in spite of

my dental hygienist's

    passions,

my car

is still in Henry Ford's

vital skull

in a marvel of Michigan

    cemetery,

my hat

will never drown

off of the Turkish shores

with wild dogs barking,

it rages against

    the rain,

and the justice of the peace

takes cash calmly, kindly,

thinking only of suicide

and all of the divorces

    to come,

but I,

I

did

though

I

did not

want to do

and

I

lost

  trying

which only validated

my faith

in the pleasure

of naught.

John Greiner is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer living in Queens, NY. He was educated at the New School for Social Research.  Greiner's work has appeared in Sand, Empty Mirror, Sensitive Skin, Unarmed, Street Valueand numerous other magazines. His chapbooks, broadsides and collections of poetry and short stories includeTurnstile Burlesque (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2017), The Laundrymen(Wandering Head Press, 2016), Bodega Roses (Good Cop/Bad Cop Press, 2014),Modulation Age (Wandering Head Press, 2012), Shooting Side Glances(ISMs Press, 2011) and Relics From a Hell’s Kitchen Pawn Shop (Ronin Press, 2010).