20160130 (resemblance)

As I begin writing the current

World population is 7,398,540,166.

What exactly is the point of there

Being so many of us? There’s only

So many combinations and

Permutations of twenty-three

Pairs of human chromosomes.

We’ve probably reached the

Limit already. In fact the 

Last three new people I’ve

Met are surprisingly alike—

Triplets is what they called

Them. Makes you kind of glad

We’re spread all over the earth

And not bumping up against

Each other all day long. I’d 

Really get tired of apologizing

To other people for looking

Like them so much. Although

We could always play games

Like telling our Doppelgänger,

“Hey, I just killed somebody

While dressed like you. So when

The cops pick you up, don’t

Try to deny it. There were 

Eyewitnesses.” Really it is

A problem. A woman came

After me in the supermarket

Shouting, “Michael! Michael.”

I stopped when I realized she 

Must have been calling to me,

So as she approached I said,

“Ma’am, I’m not Michael.”

“Oh you so look like him,”

She replied. Unable to let go

Of a good thing, I countered,

“Handsome devil, isn’t he?”

“Why, yes, he is, very.” This 

Kind of thing is all very good

Unless you unluckily bear a 

Resemblance to Rickey the 

Spliff, who hasn’t paid Uncle

Vito for the last four months,

And there’s a contract out on his 

Ass—the payments or his knees,

Whichever come first after

You convince him you’re 

Serious by chopping off a

Pinkie—ring and all and 

Having him swallow both.

That’s really why I favor a

National identification card.

Not so much to prove who

I am as to prove I’m not the

Guy you’re looking for.

By now the World Population

Clock is reading 7,398,747,605

A mere increment of 207,439

Enough to fill a city the size

Of Akron with babies—who’d

Feed ‘em or drive them to 

Soccer practice? Just to be

Fair I started last night.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016