I could sever an artery just trying to put
out a cigarette in the wrong kind of ashtray,
an evil one, i mean . . . or a two year old could
jump on my head while i’m washing my hair
& drown me in the bathtub . . . or that branch
over the car that always looks ready to fall
could finally decide to do it . . . or some kind
of malevolent gas could erupt from the
earth & strangle me before i could even
think about becoming a public utility . . .
or some angry midget could kick me in
the balls and what good is my karate if
i double over & swallow a beer bottle . . .
or who knows what the mailman thinks
of me . . . or what they’re liable to put on
the back of postage stamps these days . . .
or the inherent & terrifying potentials of one-
way streets & yield signs . . . or some giant
by-product of some wacky genius; huge
grasshoppers, toads, earthworms . . . see
it’s everything or that’s why nothing scares
me.