Don't Ask Me to Write a Poem Today

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
Can’t you see what I’ve been through?
Days on days of coughing and choking,
Crumbling nerves and sweating thru clothes,
Rewashing the same old t-shirt and jeans,
Having to borrow a dollar from the neighbor
Who has to borrow it from the bank that
Has to borrow from me to do so.

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
Don’t you see what’s going on?
The president is making insane demands,
Calling on us to die for
Democracy in far off countries,
And now wants us to cover the cost of his
Socialist-corporate agenda.

Help! he’s bringing shame to our moral lack of decency.

Meanwhile we eat day old bread, drink expired
Milk and suck sugar cubes for sweets
As he wines and dines the
Faithful fundamentalist, the oil tycoon,
The right to lifers, the
Left to right and left of center.

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
How can I afford to make such a concession?
I tried to pay my last phone bill with one and they
Sent it back covered in illegible criticism.
Who is going to pay me for my work, my time?
There it goes...vanishing quick, quickly vanishing.

Where does that leave the seeker, the student,
The saint? Trapped all day in long lines
That lead to nowhere, with nothing
To do but wait, wait, wait.

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
I’m not a machine or some assembly line producer
Giving you fresh insights, visions, illuminations by the minute,
Clocking out at five to go home to wife and children who
Want none of it, laughing in my face when I offer to share
What I’ve finished. They even call me faggot.

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
What more is there to say?

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
You’re going to have to find your own way.

Don’t ask me to write a poem today,
Today, tomorrow or any other day.