Almost Ready For Dinner, Then A

 

 

            Page or two or three

            Keeps me sane

            Page or two or three

            Squeezed between pissing and shitting and eating

            Page or two or three

            When I’m not driving to traffic court

            Weighing myself and sighing

            Bathing with a book thinking about a

            Page or two or three

            In the night when my arms are sore

            Or when I have nothing else to lose

            Or everything else to lose

            Page or two or three

            In between slurping the soup that keeps me alive

            Lighting the candles that illuminate my madness

            Drinking the tea that makes my heart pump and my lethargy forget

            Page or two or three

            We want three thousand words, don’t we, but sometimes

            All we get is

            Agony, depression, regret, loss, dead phones, postmen with rejection, or a

            Page or two or three

            Sitting cross-legged waiting for the bus

            Behind the screen in the leaning chair wearing underwear

            Fighting for light in a damp job site

            Sore from the fights of the day before

            Eyes strained at the lines of blinding light

            Before a drink, after a drink, that way keeps to grounded, less verbose

            Page or two