Relative Weights and Measures

by Bruce Boston

I’ll trade you
a hundred pounds of feathers
for a pound of gold.

When I apply the yardstick
to the racing Bugatti
its wheelbase is shorter.

A quart and a half
of nepenthe drowns
seven drams of sorrow.

My unconscious mind
proves too large
for the ten gallon hat.

I’ll trade you
three hundred pounds of butter
for a rack of AK-47s.

Whenever her hair
grows longer than her waist
she reaches for the scissors.

Appeared in Fantastique Unfettered #3, 2011