Frank

There’s a bum in my neighborhood

And he’s got my hairstyle

Except his is natural

And I have to work at mine.

His name is Frank

And we rap at the coffee counter

Of the local cheapie diner

With glazed donuts under plastic

Wobbly stools, cracked formica counter tops

And family portraits on the wall.

The portraits are not pretty

And I could do without them

While I’m eating.

But I’m telling you about Frank.

Frank is friendly, see....

Friendly Frank.

He’s a real character.

He weaves in and out of English and German

So I can’t understand everything

That he says

And if he sees me smile

He just starts laughing

Which in turn makes me laugh

And then we just sit there laughing

For no fuckin’ reason at all

And it turns into a laugh fest

Both of us trying to drink our coffee

But we can’t because we are laughing

So hard about nothing

That I am actually crying.

We end up laughing so hard it hurts

And people around us

Are wondering what the hell is going on!

I don’t know

Because I don’t understand

What Frank is saying to me

And I start to laugh even harder

Because of this.

What the HELL am I laughing at?

I wait for one full sentence

To come out of his mouth

That I will be able to understand

But it doesn’t happen!

I’m on the floor!

Then Frank’s on the floor!

I start pretending to understand him.

I’ll say “Yeah”, “Right”, “Uh-huh”

Or just ask him questions

With no possibility of getting an answer.

I don’t know where he lives

Or what he does

But he changes his worn clothes daily

And always has some money for food

And his wretched cigars.

This diner gives him their day old bread

Which he dips in their day old coffee.

Sometimes I’ll buy him eggs.

He doesn’t drink.

He’s just crazy.

He gave me one of the papers

From the stack that he hauls around

In a shopping cart

And there was his calligraphy written

All over them

Top to bottom

Front and back.

Trust me.

It looked like some alien language

Or some theory that would make

Einstein roll around in his grave.

And as Frank handed it to me

Like a precious gift

And I took it as such

I smiled

And Frank started laughing

And

Well you know how it went

From there...