My Uncle Bob

"This country needs poets like
I need another heart attack!"
Said my Uncle Bob as we sat
On his front porch watching
The fireflies.
"Take it from me," he said, sipping his beer,
"You want to be an engineer!"
"Why's that?" I asked, though not the least surprised.
"Engineers make bombs and fighter planes,
And there's always need for those."
"But Uncle Bob," I said, "I want to fuel the love,
Not the hate in the world."
"The love?" he cried with a cackled laugh.
"Why, any fool can do that!
All he needs is a cheap bottle of wine
And a decent looking whore!
The love, Daniel. Really."
I sat there and watched as he crushed fireflies in his fist,
And thought, "Yes, this man too could have been a poet."