SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS by Brian Fugett

The living room

is blaring

with the clamor

of Saturday morning

cartoons.

I’m hunched

on the couch

gorging myself

with Froot Loops

while my brother

is in the corner

working over

grandma’s poodle

with his latest

Ninja Turtle

techniques.

“I can’t believe

John Denver is dead,”

Grandma sobs

as she performs

her slow-motion rendition

of the Mime-Christ,

head cocked sideways,

palms extended

to the sky

in mock crucifixion.

Grandpa sinks deeper

into his armchair

& knocks back

another shot

of vodka

as he strains 

to stay focused

on the TV.

Brian Fugett is a member of the slacker, fast food generation that has been branded with an “X”. He sits in his pad all day consuming more oxygen than he’s worth. He’s been doing it for 47 years now & has become quite efficient at it. Some day he hopes to be president of the “International Society of Incontinent Gum Swallowers”, a support group for people who compulsively swallow gum & piss themselves.Until that day arrives, he occupies his time with writing, photography, boozing, tail-chasing and occasional pugilism.