Ricky Garni
HAVE YOU HEARD THE ONE
ABOUT THE JOKE
I know it sounds like
a bad joke but I made
a boat out of jokes
my plan to sail away
the mast & sail was a joke
about a guy goes to the movies
with his pet chicken
the jib was about a mother
in law, I gotta tell ya–
the rudder was a joke about
a priest and a rabbi go
into a bar and for
the boom I didn’t use
a joke at all I just used
a microphone boom and
they were all bad jokes
but as any seafaring man
knows nothing matters, nothing
well it only really matters
that the hull is sound and
that it doesn’t leak water
so it stays swift and true
the horizon is clear
the wind is at your back
and so I made a joke, great
about love and forgiveness
I made it into a hull and just to make
sure I added a pet monkey,
an ex-wife, a farmer’s daughter
airplane food which is terrible
a guy who walked into a bar
who dares not cross the street
and a heart that says knock
knock who’s there followed
by a long silence and everybody
laughs and laughs and laughs
and boy are his arms tired
at these prices, you never will
and I sailed on and on and on
I had no fear and the craft
was true the horizon was steady
