No Show

“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