the distance of gravity

By Stanley M. Noah
   
   
  after work everyday
  two old women
  wearing tennis shoes
  would hang outside
  the liquor store
  waiting for their bus--
   
  these smiling gals
  in tennis shoes
  were seen diving
  hard onto the concrete
  the day gun shots
  came flying from
   
  inside the store,
  making it the high point
  of their dull lives--
  and like urban birds
  they painfully learned
  the distance of gravity

Stanley spends much of his time watching old movies and hanging out at cafes late into the night, drinking gallons of coffee. Despite his claim that he’s not a very funny guy, he was winner of the Mississippi Valley Poetry Contest’s humorous category back in ’06.