A Note About Michael Rothenberg

Last night he counted the hurricanes
which almost found him,
there were at least seven and then
he said his house burned
down somewhere else
so he moved to Northern California
just in time for the floods
as if he wanted our opinion.

I cried out, Stay Away!
Everyone laughed but for the wrong reasons.
They thought it was about disaster
but Mr. Rothenberg knew
I actually meant:

Get out! Get away from here.
Hurry up. Here, give me your
keys I'll warm up your car,
put your bags in the trunk for you.
Don't look back.
Just please, run.

I'll bet when Mr. Rothenberg
drives out of town today
he'll feel bad about all the trouble
he caused by coming here.
I'll bet he thinks he's leaving
magic forever.