I shook hands with John Kennedy

We were both drunk

on a saturday night in Iowa City

I said “I thought you were dead” and he said

“yeah, but aren’t we all

in this light, on this night

as soon as the first glass hits the palm of your hand?”

Among other things, John Kennedy was a poet.

I said no

he said yes

and I bought him a round

just to prove him wrong.

his decomposing fingers

gripped the amber filled headshot

he tilted it into his mouth

and a little bit of his brain fell out.

The human brain weighs three pounds.

the girl I’d been watching most the night

tucked the duab of grey matter

into a plastic zip lock and scooted

out through the door near the bathrooms.

I shook hands with john kennedy

they were mine

white knuckled against the teeth gritted

solemnity

that’s not the right word,

but I’m coy like that/

that i was more screwed

than either of us cared to admit

and it wasn’t going to get better

any time soon.

They put him in a zoo

and made me his caretaker.

I swept his brains up off the floor and

passed them to the girl from the bar

I think she’s going to love me eventually

When I give her the combination.

And john keeps saying

Ask not

Ask not

Ask not

But I can’t help but wonder

what’s the answer?