Waiting for a Blueberry at the End of Time

No good will come from haunting
the produce aisles, waiting for a blueberry
at the end of time; searching
the bins of cantaloupes and limes
may be the wrong place
but you never know when
a surprise will happen,
and there you are in a monster
truck on a highway to the sun,
gunning for gold and pizza and beer;
those mysterious lights in the distance
could be UFOs, or just fools
riding bicycles in the middle of the road—
nice day for a picnic, nice day
for a fountain full of lard,
nice day for a pudding made of road kill,
and raisins and rum—
old Blackbeard never had it better,
a real hero for lighting the wrong fuse
at the right time, guessing that a bomb
in the basement was worth two
on the roof—
to launch the house, he lit the fuse,
and a slow burning millennium later
it blew, taking the roof with it
and the windows and the walls,
and the couch with grandpa
watching cartoons and laughing
like hallelujah—
but if you want berries
you may just have to pick your own

 

A multi-media artist living near Washington, DC, Jeff Bagato produces poetry and prose as well as electronic music and glitch video. Some of his poetry and visuals have appeared in Empty Mirror, Futures Trading, Otoliths, Gold Wake Live, H&, The New Post-Literate, and Midnight Lane Boutique. Some short fiction has appeared in Gobbet and Horror Sleaze Trash. He has published nineteen books, all available through the usual online markets, including Savage Magic (poetry) and Kill Claus! (fiction).

Chad Parenteau is Associate Editor of Oddball Magazine. He’s had several of his poems and photos published elsewhere, which makes him happy.