1.
Inside little Johnny’s head, what were once
“learning experiences” are being remodeled
into “failures” and “mistakes.”
That’s not his head’s fault;
you might blame his parents
or peers or even his teachers for it.
And in a few years, someone will. In fact,
affixing blame for what goes on in Johnny’s head
is going to be a national pastime
a couple of years from now.

2.
The man in the yellow shirt
is not a suspect in the disappearance
of the young mother.  At least,
not right now he isn’t.  Give it time.

3.
The combination of long term consumption
of particular brands of pickles — sour or dill — 
and tap water from old municipal pipes
causes virulent cancers.  No researcher
is ever going to discover this. 

4.
As a symbolic gesture in the fight
for equality,
we’ll eventually give up
numbering things — why commemorate
what came first?

—

A lonely man
is going to write some poems.
Another lonely man
is going to read those poems
and say, “That guy
really gets me.”  
One day they’ll meet
and their loneliness
will form a black hole.
Everything they know will disappear
into that hole,
which will be renamed
“a school curriculum.”
It will be widely used,
and will be in use
at the school little Johnny —
you must recall little Johnny —
will attend.  
Little Johnny will like the lonely black-hole poetry
and will write some lonely black-hole poetry 
of his own. Some of it will eventually be published
in a psychological journal, and on the front page
of The New York Times.