Always Sometimes Seldom Never.

   Payback time:
   gangster turns huckster turns jokester
   and suckupster, fuckupster, luckster,
   then lackluster. Talk about
   time! What about time bombs?

   If I were given
   three wishes, I'd have
   three wishes.

   Call me a fool, but is this fool
   half-empty or half-full?

   We see our mothers
   in their Dying Rooms.
   Nurses hushed in nurses shoes.
   Bag of urine as souvenir.
   Slash the photos--cut in two
   the picture i.d. We'll never know
   when we're in
   our last rental car. If, if,
   if--then,
   then, then.
   Are we only
   interested in cause because
   of its effects on us?

   I'm about to gush
   with happiness.

   I caught my father
   napping. My brother
   and I hoisted him
   out of his chair--we
   thought he had died
   again, his pulse
   as small as a lentil.
   Put that in your incubator. This
   is a test. Have you been
   cheating these last
   ten thousand days?

   Suddenly hourglasses are back
   in fashion. We've put
   the timer in the oven
   to see how long
   it would take to melt.

   He wrote his poems
   with iodine.

   What's the right answer
   or will the wrong
   answer do just fine?
   I saw silence
   through the microscope.
   I've had to plug
   my ears even when someone
   is peeling a banana--
   and O! the white
   flash of its flesh.

   Heed
   the signs.
   Exercise caution
   when opening.
   Contents may be
   under pressure.
   You're telling
   me. Never say
   never. Always
   say always.
   It's better
   that way. Give
   in, give in.
   You've always wanted
   to be pointed
   in the right direction,
   given the right alibi.
   Now walk.

Edward Kleinschmidt Mayes's latest book is "Works & Days" (Universe of Pittsburgh, 1999). Other recent books include "Bodysong" (Heyeck, 1999) and "Speed of Life" (Apogee, 1999). He is director of the Creative Writing Program at Santa Clara University.