Three Steps Back

Two months in the basement

Putting up water-blocker

And framing out walls

And installing electrical

And ripping off the old

Molded drywall from the eighties

Fifteen hundred dollars and easily

Enough work to drive a man sane

Five inches of rain in three days

There are people with no houses

I guess I should be grateful

All I have to do is

Rip out six walls

Spend several hundred dollars on sealant

And dig around my house

Lose a week of life

A week of life

A week of life here and there

That’s what happened to

Everyone I know

I refuse to be that person

War on the sun

War on the rain

War on anything that stops me from writing

It’s hard to get pity from the 9 to 5 crowd with that

I know

I guess what I’m asking is why this is

Any kind of evidence of a just God

Why

You do not reap what you sow

Why

No matter how hard you work or who you are

You never get a break until you’re greedy

All you can do is stare at the shovel

And be up nights

I am