Jokes On Yourself

I woke up laughing It all got better from there Something way down deep in me Was asking to be declared So now I prepare If I don’t, somebody else Will make it to the punchline Of the joke that’s on myself Three hookers and a rabbi Walked into a candy store The Hindu behind the register Said, “We only allow three whores.” The joke that never ages Is the Holy Word can’t be spelled The Name that can’t be uttered ‘Til the joke is on yourself Take up thy cudgels Drive the poems into your sin If you had your disgrace to live over, For God’s sake do it again There is no reprisal An honest set of lips can tell As rainy as the letdown Of the joke that’s on yourself So come baby with me Shootout at the Okay Corral In the Valley of the Mediocre Another staging of Guys and Dolls Those failed comedians Keep drawing from an empty well — Don’t find yourself in their audience Of a joke that must be on yourself The joke must be in your self.