What’s So Funny? by Mark Sebastian Jordan

What’s So Funny? by Mark Sebastian Jordan
Pudding Magazine #56

I sat down once in a cheap dive bar
across a wobbly, beat up table from Death.
He showed me three card tricks
and told a dirty joke about
how he uses his scythe
to pick up movie stars.
It wasn’t all that funny,
but I laughed at Death.

I sat down once in a pew
in a plastic and vinyl Baptist church
and heard a heaven-humping, Bible-thumping
preacher mispronounce my grandma’s name
over her dead body, before leaving her behind
in the dust-to-dust as he rode his brimstone rant
to beatific release.

Googling the Word Madness by James Babbs

Googling the Word Madness by James Babbs
Pudding Magazine #56

right away
I realize my mistake
four songs listed for
the British pop/ska band
including their big ‘80s hit
Our House
then a combat game
based on some cartoon series
I’ve never heard of before
by somebody named Krinkels
I should’ve used insanity
or mental illness
but those terms
don’t sound poetic enough to me
maybe
I expected to find
images of this room
high-definition videos of myself
walking around the house
sitting at the computer
watching myself
sitting at the computer
remember