Much More Than Time
Copyright 2024 by Mather Schneider
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Mather Schneider
Mather Schneider was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1970 and his poetry and prose have been published in hundreds of journals since 1995. He didn't graduate from college, which led to a life of dozens of low-end jobs, including lumber mill, fish processing, landscaping, janitor, dive bar bartender, garbage man and 15 years as a cab driver, which are chronicled in his book of short stories, 6 to 6. He also has several books of poetry and his first novel, The Bacanora Notebooks, was released in 2023 by Anxiety Press. He was a winner of the 2017 Rattle poetry chapbook contest and has a second book of short stories coming out this year. He currently works as an exterminator and divides his time between Tucson, Arizona and Mexico.
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The Same
Natalia keeps telling me the same
stories over and over.
I say,
Yes, you told me that.
She says,
I did?
Her head's in the clouds.
Natalia keeps telling me
the same stories over and over.
You told me this yesterday, I say.
Oh ok, she says, just let me finish.
Over and over every
day the same story.
It hurts, it hurts.
13 doctors in 6 months.
She tells them all the same story
and they tell her the same story:
they can’t help her.
The story of humanity,
of the pain of being alive,
the story of ghosts,
the story of memory,
the story of fear.
I nod my head up and down
but I can hardly listen anymore.
She even mutters the same stories in her sleep.
I sit up late at night
and play my old favorite songs
over and over.
Copyright ©2024 Mather Schneider
The Stoic
In dreams as in life I want to become bold,
bold and stoic like Marcus Aurelius.
Surely there is something to do
besides sitting around
wondering why you’re not good enough
and not strong enough.
I talked to my sweet old mother on the phone yesterday.
We laughed a bit.
She told me Natalia will get better
and we will be happy again
and we will come to visit her
and have coffee on the porch in the mornings.
Life is long, she said.
You’re still young.
The things a mother says.
I tell her many things but I don’t tell her everything.
I don’t tell her I drink beer
at 8 in the morning
in order to be bold and stoic,
in order to call her
and say hello.
Copyright ©2024 Mather Schneider
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Superman
Up early to take Natalia to the urine lab.
They always want the urine from first thing in the morning.
“Maple syrup urine,” a famous writer said.
Back home we both crawl back into bed.
Soon I am dreaming I am Superman.
I have a job as a waiter
flying over the tables,
filling coffee cups from above,
cleaning 10 tables
in a single bound.
No need for busboys or dishwashers.
I run the cash register too
and I never pilfer.
I even refuse all tips or if they insist
I donate the money to the powerless.
After my shift I sit at the bar
and drink 46 bottles of tequila
without catching a buzz.
I have to take a piss but can’t find
the dick-hole in my super shorts.
The light through the curtains is blue as kryptonite
and I walk to the bathroom like any normal man
with a dying wife and a flabby gut,
flat feet on the cold tile floor.
Copyright ©2024 Mather Schneider
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