what the hell
does that mean

an Apache war chant
maybe

or ancient Sumarian curse

Norse toast
to Odin
and the dominion of giants
or maybe a plea
to tiny Irish folk

Greek

is this something
Socrates might have
said to his students,
I think
therefore
someone else
has to pay for the
pizza

it’s not Spanish
and it’s not Russian
both of which I studied
or German where
I lived for a year
and drank a lot of beer
and listened to a lot
of beergarden German
and it’s not
any of their linguistic
cousins because I would
recognize them in a minute,
especially with another beer

and it’s probably not French
since it’s pronounceable
as written
so I just don’t know

I know it’s not Nigerian
because I’ve had lots
of email from them
and it’s nothing they’ve
ever said

I mean,
for crying out loud

her cuzzart an chatom

that’s what it says,
right there on the email
subject line and I’m afraid
to open because I don’t know
what it means, I don’t know
what it is

a coded message
from terrorists,
worse,
a trick by Homeland Security
to catch me at something
but I don’t know what
and send me to Cuba
for seventeen years
and I don’t even like
camping out on the beach

her cuzzart an chatom

I’m so confused
and just don’t know
what I supposed to do