contingencies

if i run out of ink

i'll use a pencil

if it snows in april (it is)

i'm shovel ready

keep the aclu phone number

& bob kaufman's jail poems

in your back pocket

the snow's piling up outside

wait another day to go to the thrift store

the flowers are trying to close up

& shutdown before they freeze

none of this is a fluke

we don't need a fluke to believe in

the next time you hear bad news

don't call it a fluke

the robin's breast will make you smile

even in a spring snow storm

--- e b bortz