We don’t have to hate
all people
at all times.
Maureen is a funny woman.
She takes my taxi just to
have an audience.
She tends to talk on and on.
She has no friends,
just a cat
who drools.
She has no physical coordination
at all
and is the butt of
everybody’s jokes
even her
own.
It has been that way
since she was a child.
Now she’s a 41-year-old nurse
who can make fun of
herself,
which is something even most
saints can’t do.
Passion Contents
Post Published: 12 September 2011
Author: Mather Schneider
Found in section:
Poetry
Mather Schneider's mother told him he was born in the middle of the night during the worst snow storm of the year. This was back in Illinois. He is now a cab driver in Tucson, which is forty-five minutes from Mexico, in the Sonoran Desert. He has no girlfriend, pet, or university degree, but he has a chapbook, Poormouth, available from Interior Noise Press at myfavoritebullet.com. His poems have appeared in the small press for about ten years.
Tags: 2011, fall, Poetry, summer
every time that i find some of mather schneider’s work, i am immediately made aware that this man is out there documenting slices of a life that would otherwise have remained completely out of my experience. his characters seem to all be of a group that gets ignored by the rest of us, as if they are some kind of furniture or studio extras hired from central casting to fill out some scene but not to be a part of the action; not to be focused upon or remembered. then, a glimpse into their lives is offered by mather and i can share a life that is rich just for being lived. there are no great american heroes here, no star status but finding them is none the less stunning and a tribute to the writer who brings them to us.