Sometimes I enjoy
telling
a good bullshit story
twisting the truth
I can’t tell little white lies,
My ex-fiancé Terrie
always caught me
telling those little white lies.
When I was seventeen,
me and one of my cousins
went to the grand opening
of a Rocky Graziano Pizzeria
Rocky was one Middleweight Champ,
who owned a nuclear bomb
of a right hand
There he was Rocky Graziano
signing autographs
I looked at him
he growled:
“You want one of these?”
meaning his autograph
I didn’t appreciate his growl
I was about to tell him
to shove his autograph
up his ass
Only in his forties
Graziano was still
a very dangerous man
I thanked him for his autograph
A couple months later
weekend drunk as usual
I got beat up
I should have insulted Graziano
perhaps he would have
beaten me up
I then could brag
I fought Rocky Graziano
That’d be my bullshit twist
on that day
Oh by the way
I still love my ex-fiancé

FRED BYRNES studied at Dowling College and Suffolk Community College, is author of 14 collections of poetry, and a lifelong resident of Huntington LI.