Poem of the Day 01.13.09

what you have to do is…

stop drinking all that beer
and getting drunk in public
and eating that shit that gives
you the pains in your chest and arms
and put in a transfer to another
branch at your job if the place is killing you
stop taking work so seriously anyway
stop walking five miles every single day
if your ankle is bothering you
and learn to take it easy when you get in
in the evenings
stop being afraid of the mail
stop worrying about the psycho upstairs
he hasn’t bothered us since august
and if the neighbor’s television is too loud
either knock on her door
or move the furniture to the other
side of the room
so you won’t hear it while you’re trying to relax at night.
stop being envious of other people who live
in quiet homes, in quiet neighborhoods
they’re banal and bland and dead
and they aren’t you and they have their own problems
even though you seem to believe no one has a problem but you.
learn to breath.
meditate.
do yoga or something.
stop thinking the pain in your head is a brain tumor
when you know it’s probably just your sinuses
because thinking that way is keeping you up at night
and you aren’t sleeping enough as it is these days
quit reading his blog
quit checking all of their statuses on facebook,
looking for reasons to hate them.
think about making an appointment to talk
to a psychiatrist because your problems aren’t getting
any better
and, no, moving somewhere new when the lease is up
won’t solve anything.
it never did.
and i’m getting too old and tired
to keep doing shit like that because of you
every two to three years.