Poetry: Selections From Mather Schneider

Summer Morning Fugue 

Sprayed too much bug killer in my little room

feeling woozy in the fog

earlier I was reading Unamuno on the thrown

“a pedant is a caricature of a man”

damn tootin’ he is Unamuno

we want our desires and dreams clothed in legend

we want to understand the mystery of man’s destiny on earth

I breathe the fumes of pesticide

amid the fallen mosquitoes and silverfish

hogtied by morality

perhaps the mathematicians can figure it out

I lift my beer to taste infinity

and forget that my love is dying

from out my window the eternal music

of the Mexican ice-cream truck

tooling through the lonely colonias

Trout Fishing Dream

Natalia and I get in a fight on Christmas morning

I stay out in the shed all day and night

when I go to sleep I dream I am walking to a lake

to go trout fishing

a kid pops out of the pines and walks beside me

his name is Doug

he has no friends nobody likes him

at the lake we don’t catch any trout

then some cool boys wander over

and begin to make fun of Doug

I don’t stick up for him though I should

I walk away to my green Volvo

I get in and drive it into the lake

a couple of months later I see Doug and Uncle Harry

outside the Stop-n-Go

where I bought two frozen trout

Uncle Harry says,

We know you and your friends tried to kill Doug

we’re going to take you to court

he looks at me with a chilling hatred

Doug nods his head in agreement

Uncle Harry says,

We know you purposely stopped Doug from catching any trout

and we also know you’ve been following us

because you still want to kill Doug

I say,

Nobody caught any trout that day, Uncle Harry

Oh, he says, so you admit you were there?

I’m sorry, Doug, I say

Uncle Harry says,

We saw your green Volvo outside our house last night

and we have proof

I roll my wheelchair away from them

because my spine was crushed

when I drove my Volvo into the lake

they fished me out but the car is still down there somewhere

I feel sad for Doug

I feel sad for myself

I feel sad for Uncle Harry and Natalia

I feel sad for pretty much everybody in the world

and that’s the truth so help me God

Bananas

My neighbor planted 12 banana trees in his front yard

he waters them constantly

I guess he loves bananas

or the idea of bananas

he looks sad when he sits staring at his banana trees

big green leaves waving in the breeze

bananas are pretty good

I got no problem with bananas

but I’m not holding my breath for a big crop

this is not South America

I don’t want to bust his bubble

he’s got enough problems with his wife who yells all the time

and his kid who’s a little slow

his car is always breaking down

and he’s got gray hair at 40 which isn’t common for a Mexican

my wife Natalia hasn’t been out of bed in a couple weeks

the doctor says she probably won’t get up again

I open the curtains so she can see the banana trees

bananas have anti-oxidants

potassium and other nutrients

but Natalia can’t eat them anymore

my neighbor moves the green garden hose

from one tree to the next

wait there are 13 not 12

I counted wrong

13 banana trees to brighten our days

Dream of My Big Escape 

I have a Schwinn bike with a banana seat

I decide to ride it as far away as I can

because Natalia doesn’t love me anymore

I ride all day until I reach a town I don’t know

I realize I left my phone at home

I want to call my mom

I forgot to pack a lunch and don’t have any money

that’s when I see my dad

he is loading bags onto his truck bed

with a woman I have never seen before

she is pretty and dressed like a landscaper

her and Dad yell at each other while they load the bags

there is an endless pile of them

I say, Hey Dad can you give me a lift?

he says, Sure

I hop in the truck bed with the bags

Dad says, Wait here

he and the woman walk away and never come back

it is getting late and I don’t want to ride my bike in the dark

plus I have forgotten the way

that’s when I realize I have my phone in my pocket

it’s been there the whole time

but I can’t remember my mom’s number

I think maybe I can drive Dad’s truck

but the steering wheel is huge

I can’t see over it

I can’t reach the pedals either

the keys dangle from the ignition like fish bait

I grab at them but they squirm away

I think,

Maybe Dad’s got some food in the glove compartment

I reach my hand into the dark

something bites my finger and I wake up

I remember the ugly things I said to Natalia

while she was still alive

there are ants in the bed again

I brush them to the floor

follow their trail past the dirty sink

to the front door

open it and stand looking into the dawn light

Dream of Somewhere

A big fat Mexican lady lies down on me

she doesn’t do it out of meanness she’s just lonely

the weight is comforting  

but after a while I lift her monstrous leg

and climb out

she smiles and holds a pistol in her hand

You want to buy it? she says

That’s ok, I say,

I don’t feel like I need one just yet

You sure got a good life, she says,

I watch you

she points out her window to a house across the street

Do I live there? I say

You live there with your wife, she says,

You are both so beautiful

I stare at my house

it has huge windows all along the side

and a big front and back yard

it is made of brown brick and has some ivy

and a big tree in front

Where’s my wife? I say, Where’s Natalia?

She’s in there, she says,

She’s still in there somewhere

Mather Schneider's poetry and prose have appeared in many places since 1994. He has 6 books available and lives in Mexico.