Swiss Yodeling and Yoko

Swiss Yodeling and Yoko

i try and be decent
by humoring children
complaining about their grade school teachers
or how mommy
doesn't 
and can't
buy them enough
of what they want

i try to be decent
by humoring the very old
complaining about the food
and quality of films
showing in their nursing home
on movie night

i humor
even though
there's little i can do
i humor
knowing
and because
there's not much they can do about it
either

but i can't be decent
humoring those
who aren't children
or infirmed
who need to be humored
like children
or the infirmed
with their tired
complaints
insights
and stories
about nothing

i've tried being decent
tried humoring it for a while
for the sake of being polite
tried humoring it
like the A side of a swiss yodeling record
or any yoko album
or the first 30 minutes of a catholic mass
tried humoring it
gracefully
but there's a limit
to one's tolerance

there's a limit
when the cackling's too much
when the ability to humor
a droning sermon
even with the candles and smoke and cracker
hits a brick wall
too much
after 30 minutes
once in a month
let alone
every day

but they want 
and need
the yodeling
or yoko's terrible tunes
for hours and hours
like corn on the cob
without butter and salt
or coffee
without cream or sugar
knowing
without them
i get my coffee and corn
precious things
the way i want them
but it's always their way
so i turn my mind
to sand
same as the body
reacting to infection 
by fever
the only way
of dealing
with the incessant noise
of saying
and doing
absolutely
nothing

and knowing the next time
at a funeral wake
were the yodelers are more dead
than the one in the casket
or
a banquet
or
over holiday dinner
whatever the gathering
it's gonna be swiss yodeling
or yoko 
all over again
the same old tunes
same old song and dance
as the sayings go

knowing it for what it is
5 seconds into a story
already told
a dozen times
at funeral wakes
banquets
over holiday dinners
knowing 
this time
this funeral
it's still
and always
gonna be
yodeling or 
yoko
all the time
every time
cause there's never anything else

i try to be decent
by humoring children
and the infirmed
but for the life of me
i can't humor the others
who bring nothing else
but yodeling
and yoko
every 
single
fucking
time
can't humor
for the life of me
those who aren't children
nor the infirmed
who ought to know better