he also brags about the size of his penis

Murray walks around
Techson Medical Supply
bragging about how
smart he is.

he tells anyone who’ll listen about the
IQ test he took recently
and how he expects
to score in the genius range.

“130’s, maybe even in
the 140’s,” he says.

he’s to receive his scores
on Friday.

he had them mailed to himself at
work so that he’d be
certain everyone would
see his score.

on Friday, the envelope arrived.

“Mensa will probably call
in a few days asking,
no begging,
me to join their esteemed and
prestigious organization,”
he said before he
opened the envelope.

instantly his
demeanor changed.

he slowly placed the opened
envelope on his desk and turned
his head away from us.

“what’d it say, Murray?”
Carl asked. “145?
150?”

“yeah, man. what’d it
say?” i repeated. “does
Mensa want you as their new president?”

Murray said nothing.
he just stared at the wall,
his eyes averted.

Carl leapt forward and grabbed the
envelope before Murray
could do anything.

he pulled out the letter
and read it.

“84?!” Carl laughed.
“84?!” he repeated, laughing harder.

everyone started to laugh\
with Carl, elbowing
each other and
rolling their eyes.

“my dog scored an 87 last year,”
someone barely got out
before bursting into a fit of laughter.

“well, Murray,” i said,
“i’m no genius, but it appears
that neither are you.”

-published in James River Poetry Review