Non-fiction poetry

At Josh's wedding, he told us that his friend Loncar wrote poems along the lines of: "I was driving downtown/And I spilled/Coffee in my lap..." Josh refused to accept this as poetry, on the ground that it was merely reporting an event that had actually taken place: "Loncar, that's not poetry -- that really happened to you.."

Thus was born the new genre of non-fiction poetry, or as some call it, journalistic verse (at least it could be verse). The official documentor of the new form is that man-about-literature Avi Feldman. But Feldman is busy with college, and I can't wait any longer. There will be more to come when the mighty Feldman steps up with his notebook, but in the meanwhile, here is a poem that happened to me only this morning.

"Lester's Request".

The polka show was on the radio
and Lester asked Billy
to play "The Beer Barrel Polka"
And he said
"In heaven
there is no beer --
and that's why
we drink it in Chicopee."

Have any poems happened to any of you lately?