do you have any references?

i'm amused

when people ask for references.

having been

in business for thirty-five years.

should i give

them the good ones,

or the bad ones,

the ones where paint spilled,

where the wallpaper

curled off the walls?

should i give them the number

of the job

where the ladder

fell, or the fire

started, or how

i flooded the hall?

i choose the happy people,

which are most of

the jobs, the ones

i got paid on, i give out

those numbers

for them to call.