Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

The Working at the Party City Blues

these balloons won’t blow themselves,
you clown.
really?
someone’s buying funeral candles
and you’re bitching
about your being unlovable?
think of all the suffering in the world;
so what if you’re lonely?
this phosphorescent void
of something adjacent
to happiness filled with off-brand cartoon cutlery
(the rights cost too much money),
and mildly inappropriate
bachelorette party games
should be enough,
shouldn’t it? it pays the bills.
oh, have you heard?
the assistant manager –
the one without the tattoos –
is going down (fifteen
to twenty) for child
pornography?
he always struck me as odd.
can you cover his shifts?
what, no! we can’t pay you more.
if the price of balloons go up,
no one will ever host a party again,
don’t you understand?
lord help me; it never ends.

 

E.C. Gannon was born in Boston, grew up in southern New Hampshire and is currently a student at Florida State University.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.