Ernest Miller Hemingway

Thanks for that 


1            at this time
2            I no longer have to work
3            the nightclubs and the universities
4            the bookstores
5            for tiny checks.
6            I no longer have to tell the freshman English class
7            at the U. of Nebraska (Omaha)
8            while sitting with my hangover at 11 a.m.
9            at a brown elevated desk
10          why I did it
11          how I did it
12          and what they might do in order to do
13          it too.


14          but I didn't mind the plane flights back home
15          with the businessmen
16          all of us drinking doubles
17          and trying not to look out past the wing
18          trying to relax
19          each happy that we were not on skid row
20          knowing we each had a certain talent
21          (so far)
22          which had saved us from that
23          (so far).


24          I may have to do it again some day but
25          right now I am where I belong:
26          flying over my own Mississippi River
27          passing over my own Grand Canyon
28          on schedule
29          no seat belt
30          no stewardess and
31          no lost luggage.