poem of the day 08.06.09

praying for pizza in the rain

we’re carrying this pizza in the rain
a rain that keeps getting harder with each step
and we can see home from here
but it does us no good
my wife has an umbrella over the pizza box
but it’s still getting wet
she’s soaked all the way through
we’re carrying this pizza in the rain
and i’m praying to the gods for clemency
and all i can think is goddamn it
please don’t let this pizza get ruined
because it means so much to us
i’ve worked five days straight for this pizza
i’ve skipped lesser meals
i’ve eaten salads as entrees
and my wife has choked down fat free yogurt
and fruit for this pizza
and it’s all going to come down to the fucking rain?
you have to be kidding me
i’ve walked five sweltering miles a day for this pizza
and we’ve answered the same questions
over and over again, day in and day out
we’ve written bills in the hundreds of dollars
and i’ve sat on packed, stinking subway cars for this pizza
this pizza that we’re carrying in the rain
with the cardboard box beginning to welt
and the bottom buckling
and the top sagging in the middle
stuck in all of that mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce
son of a bitch, i’ve sold my soul for this pizza
my wife has too
we’ve encountered unspeakable horrors
of the day to day for this pie
so let us have it you cosmic, holy pricks
i mean we’re only steps away from the apartment
so come on
but the rain is getting worse
so we stop underneath an awning advertising legal help
as the sky rips open even more, like a zeusian fart
and the pizza box becomes an ugly u shape
the pie getting wet and cold and deformed inside
my wife looks at me and i try to smile
but damn it
goddamn it
deities are nothing but skid marks on the plight
of the world, large or small,
and in some lives nothing can ever go right
on a wednesday evening in the city