A curse hung in my ear, I got
the bottle, poured myself a
drink, lit a cigarette
It didn’t make sense, some
lady wanted to play, to know
something about my business
Whiskey calmed my nerves, I
was half asleep, I dreamed about
giant catfish in the river
My mother told me some were
so big, alligators left them alone,
I caught one, its head was the
size of a man’s torso, I shouted
Mother must not have heard, the
catfish kept trying to dive, I finally
let it go, I was crying
I picked up the receiver, “Hello”
the accent wasn’t French exactly,
“I am calling you about a problem”
Enunciating each syllable,
“Who in the hell is this?”