day TWELVE HUNDRED and NINETY FOUR

Just in Case

After brainstorming
my will on old union dues
and broken pension statements

I begin writing my budget
trying to crunch these numbers
for my new life insurance policy.

I bought it this morning at 32
for when I go back teaching this fall
just in case my wife of seven months
loses me for the sake of Wall Street.

I just have to put down a little less
on my student loan payments
and the interest that continues
to cripple me from buying
a house or starting a family.

I just have to put down a little less
for my medical care and hope
the generic medications I’m given
will keep my family’s history
of heart disease and deflated lungs at bay.

I just have to put down a little less
for the food in my grocery cart
so I can buy school supplies
for my students and keep my landlord
from shutting off my lights.

If I can just crunch these numbers
and put down a little less
maybe I’ll forget this price
I’ll ultimately have to pay.

--Cord Moreski


Cord Moreski is a poet from New Jersey. His work has been featured in As It Ought To Be Magazine, Alien Buddha Press, Silver Birch Press, Eunoia Review, The Rusty Truck Press, and several other publications. He is currently working on a new project for late 2020. You can follow Cord here: https://www.cordmoreski.com