Improv 1, Week 3

Do the Right Thing
by Adrian Matejka

Spike Lee is so small I didn’t even
See him at first, surrounded

by Black Expo goers like a gumdrop
in a fist. When I asked him to sign

my “Free South Africa” t-shirt,
he said, You didn’t buy that at this

booth. Fresh off seeing Do the Right
Thing, I crowed: “What’s that got

to do with your movies?” His fans
laughed, so he edited me like my name

was Pino: Why you care? You
ain’t even black. Someone behind

me said, Damn, Spike. That ain’t
right. But Spike’s shamed scribble

on my t-shirt didn’t change the missed
free throw feeling in my chest.



Fear and Loathing

Hunter Thompson is so decrepit I didn’t even
recognize him at first, surrounded

by cartoon demons like Care Bears
on acid. When I asked him to sign

my Great Gatsby novel,
he said, Fear and Loathing is better.

Fresh off reading Kingdom of Fear,
I yelled: “You wish you old hack.”

His readers surrounded me, so he picked
me up like Dr. Gonzo: Take this he cried,

jamming a pill in my mouth and his knee
in my groin. Someone behind me said,

Damn, Hunter’s still got it.
But Thompson’s resilience

couldn’t change the fact
that he died in the eighties.