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Jim
Myers
lives with his wife in Orlando, Florida, where he works as a manager at the
public library.
He is nearing completion on a collection of poems entitled Pulling
Drunk Astronauts Out of the Banana River.
Jim Myers
Own Reward
One day in first grade you give birth
To twins and they look just like gramps.
Name them what you will, but everyone
Calls one Destiny and the other Fate.
It’s widely believed these kids will define you.
Then comes the night they steal a car and
Wind up living out of state and working
In the food industry. It’s an old
story.
The Incas tattooed an empire down the
Whole left arm of South America, no wheel
Or written language. Took ninety
years.
Then the Spanish pulled an armored sleeve
Over them in thirty seconds. During
the war,
Winston Churchill gave those stirring radio
Speeches. After victory, he went to
the
Big Three Conference to fill out the paperwork.
When he got back to the office all his things
Were in boxes. It starts when you
are told
As a child that you will be rewarded for hard
Work. You spend the rest of your
life trying to
Arrange a marriage between the promise and
The truth. So you read books with
sentences
That stick like honey and listen to songs that draw
Cartoons of your emotions. Expect a
runaway to
Drop by out of nowhere with a new business
Plan. They re-elected Churchill in
1951.