“Dear Fencer, I am writing
to ask if you will answer a survey about why people don’t show up for
competitions they have preregistered for…”
Dear Fred
You ask what happened
Truth is,
I overslept
Last night the cat was sick
She puked all night
I had to
Rush her to the vet
Another time, my car—the battery was dead
Or, on the road, an accident clogged up the pike
And there I sat, when
Registration closed
The furnace died, pipes burst the
Toilet is backed up the workmen said he’d come
(and didn’t show)
An inauspicious stain is creeping
Down the wall
I woke up a fever
Ancient injuries flared up
Loading my equipment to the car I
Threw out my back
The editor turned back my manuscript last night and
Asked for cuts
By first thing Monday,
‘Natch
In short
Life happened
That’s all, just
Life
