WILLIE JOE FROM COCOMO by Catfish McDaris

While washing windows with
a rag on an old rake handle &
a long wide squeegee, I could
not help but think of wild Willie

The cat that taught me plenty,
the correct mixture of vinegar
& ammonia to add to the water

Which rags were best, how to
choose & slice the right rubber
for a worn out squeegee edge

How to do the maximum amount
of work in the minimum of time,
how & where to hide from the boss

Willie always had a pint of rotgut
& a dime bag of good weed, he
never learned to roll a joint, so I
put together our cowboy cigarettes

After a doobie & half a pint, out
would come the Polaroids of his
new chick, all naked spread out
on a bed, smiling like B.B. King

Shots of him grinning, holding
what looked like a huge black
banana with lips all puckered up

I’d make an ugly face & pretend to
gag, he’d crack up laughing hard &
we’d smoke again & finish the booze

Then climb the ladders three stories
up & make the windows so clean, the
birds would commit suicide like in
an Alfred Hitchcock movie.