WHY YOU ARE AT WORK

At  3 a.m.the phone rings;

Death is calling; he needs a ride

From some godsforsaken diner

Just off the Garden State Parkway

Near the Jersey Pine Barrens.

 (Though he is wealthy, Death

Rides wobbly one-speed bikes

Or drives a temperamental clunker

Or he wakes folk up because once

You did him a favor so now he thinks

The two of you are friends.)

He has just realized that the ghost

Of Mexican flyer Emilio Carranza

Has been waiting with growing impatience

Since July 12th, 1928 when he crashed

In the Barrens after President Coolidge

Didn’t feed him lunch at the White House.

(Cal had said there was no food there

As Mrs. Cal had cleaned out the icebox.)

Carranza spends the whole ride back

Detailing his numerous operations.

He's uncertain how many platinum screws

Were needed to put him back together

After his 1927 crash in Sonora.

By the time you drop them off

At a Starbucks near Penn Station

It's almost eight. No sense going home

So you take your half-caf latte

And get to work a bit early.