Learning How To Live.

Learning How To Live

I could not find myself becoming

Immersed in the poetry that has

Large hands.  Like drops of crimson,

The shadows dwell within all of us-

The shadow of defeat, the shadow of

Work, the shadow of fear and greed.

I try not to remember all those bad times

That I was kept locked in the cave of myself,

Locked amidst broken promises and half-assed

Dreams, in order to have a dream I discovered,

One must have money.  I had no money.  I was

Homeless for quite some time, living in my car,

At shelters, or at my niece’s, who was only seventeen

And had two children.  She was more well-off

Than I was, and I was the proud uncle, telling her I would

Buy her everything once I got the money.

Once, I say, once this happens, then we’ll be rich,

And she dreamt of that day, and so did I, but nothing

Happened except she worked six days a week at the local

Drive-in, and dated a man named Bob who had a tattoo

Of a mythical god on his arm.