luzio
had no teeth
and his skin
was like a dog's
raw-hide chew.
he was one of
the many
summer homeless
in iowa city .
i don't know how
he got in
with the
pizza-shop owner,
but the owner
printed up
yellow fliers
with luzio’s
face on them.
big block letters said:
VOTE FOR ME
and the caption
above luzio’s head
told everyone to
eat at the
pizza-shop.
student newspaper
ran an article
and the pizza-shop owner
said he'd meant
no disrespect
to the democratic process
how this was
the best
marketing idea
he had ever
come up with.
during the day
luzio stuck the fliers
under windshield wipers.
at night
he drank beer
from the pizza-shop
and slept on a bench
out front
on the sidewalk.
i sat next to him
on the bench
one night
after the bars closed.
he was saying something
but the words came out
like runaway
windmills.
a group of frat boys
stopped in front of us
and whooped
luzio's name.
he handed me his beer
jumped up
and tapped out a jig
worthy of
gene kelly.
then he
sat back down
and
coughed up
a puddle of blood
between our feet.