Thursday, May 30, 2013

poem of the day 05.30.13


it’s all my fault

yes
it’s all my fault, sir

that it took you seventy-minutes to fill-out
a basic application for wal-mart
and that you lost all of your info and your pc shut off

it’s all my fault that you’ve been unemployed for five years

yes, i know how long ago 2008 was

and it’s probably my fault too
that your lavender shirt is unwashed
and that other people have complained about the stink

they came up to me and said
can’t you do something about this?
so it must be my fault since they’re asking

it’s my fault too that i have a “cushy” job

my fault that i went and got a graduate degree
after years of dead-end employment
and, as a result, will be in debt  until the age of sixty-three

no, i wasn’t joking when i stood up at my desk and said,
here, you can have my fucking job, prick
because dealing with people like you makes me
want to go back on the dole

i wasn’t joking about that, sir

i’d gladly take unemployment again
those days and nights of bologna sandwiches and natural light beer
over dealing with and talking to people like you

it’s all my fault
are you happy?

my fault that your wife left you
that your kids won’t speak to you anymore
that you lost your apartment and your car

it was just so random how i singled you out
for malice and to humor the darkness
that rests in the pit of me

my fault that it’s fifty-eight degrees and raining outside
and that tomorrow it’ll be ninety and sunny

because obviously i control the weather too

it’s my fault, sir, that you had to drag yourself
to the depths of brooklyn from the bronx

that we weren’t open at ten o’clock to serve you
and that you waited outside in the rain for three hours
because you didn’t have the money for a cup of coffee

it’s my fault
all of it

your failed application
the drones in pakistan
benghazi and the carnage in syria
the missiles sailing over north korea
the bombings in afghanistan
congressional sequestration
and lindsay lohan being in back rehab

what can i say?
i’m sorry i guess

i’m a small and petty man

plus i never realized sitting in this chair
for eight hours a day
how much power that i wielded over common lives

i probably should’ve

after all, you’re not the first person today
who has told me

that it’s all my fault.

                                   

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