And...

And…

In
Probability theory
adding
details makes
things
less likely

The problem is,
details make
lies
more
believable

the opposite is true
of excuses

the old Jew who hangs
at the used bookstore claims
to be an artist,
an abstract impressionist
with a brother in NY
who doesn’t tell him which
of his paintings sell
because the old Jew is private
doesn’t show anyone his work
doesn’t sign his name to his work
just sends them off and never sees them again

all of this and the old fart doesn’t hold a job

jobs he says are for wives and wives are for people who can’t paint well

on another day he claims to
be a physicist
and knows his
pop physics
rather well

he also claims
his leather trench
is lined w/ Kevlar
and that
it only stops small
calibers

he knows from experience

he seems to be a walking search
engine--all the authors, topics,
and books,
all the Prigogines, French criticisms,
and…

if he knows everything
it’s because my everything
is small

he thinks foreign literature is shit
and that black conservatives by definition
are uncle toms

I for one
say he exists
and precisely
in the way he claims
to exist

because I would know:

some of us have to lie in order to be believed.