Look here, Mr. Gatekeeper.
Someone must've pulled a fast one.
The debonair chap in the black trench coat
and shiny top hat swore
I could choose my own reincarnation.

Then, Kapoof! And here I am
fluffing greasy feathers against a cold drizzle,
perched atop a steaming mound
of cow manure, beak overflowing
with carrion, maggots and dung beetles.

Hark! That's Mrs. Crow squawking.
She's hungry and growing ornery.
Her hemorrhoids are flaring up
after squatting for days on end
upon a nest of pointy twigs and thorns.

So, start beating those gossamer thingies
you call wings, and fetcheth me
the Head Honcho. Springtime is approaching
down below, and I've a shitload
of sweet-talking to do.
Richard Jordan is a PhD Mathematician and a poet who lives and works in the Washington DC area. He has only been writing for slightly over a year. In that time, his poems have appeared in over 40 print and on-line magazines, including most recently, Stirring, Net Author E2K, Adirondack Review, Prose Ax, Red River Review, Kimera, Maelstrom, Dakota House Journal, Virginia Adversaria, Concrete Wolf, 3rd Muse Poetry Journal, Futures and Facets. The editor of Branches has chosen lines from one of his poems to include as an example in the 2003 Poet's Market. He is also a judge/editor for the Beginnings Magazine quarterly poetry contest, and is a guest Associate Editor for Facets Magazine. He has published flash fiction in Insolent Rudder, Story Bytes and American Feed Magazine, as well.