The landlords got together
and went to the watchmakers,
hat in hand but real neat otherwise,
and said

“Excuse me, but
these tenants,
they don’t pay on the first

and we used to evict them
but the turnover got so bad

we gave them a few extra days
to avoid the hassle,

but we got our checks
a few days after that deadline
instead

and now we don’t know what to do,

so what about you
put a little wheel
with the date on it
in their watches”

And God-damn if
that little wheel is’t reading
the 6th
and I’m hoping my check
filled on the 4th
was postmarked
the 5th