Friday, July 5, 2024

not a gratitude list [just living life]

Dreamt a girl I talk to
got married and I wanted 
        to text her
   but didn't
      because I read a book
that said people
   who focus on fantasies
are less happy than people
        who focus 
             on reality.
and she is a daydream. 
   two days ago I was down
  but it came out irritated
  and angry. So onward
       to what's real and
  what's really mine. 

        Like
nails painted Robin egg blue
      with gold flecks
         now that I don't bite them.  
    hands unbloody, not hurting
a cat who sleeps on my head
     like he is hatching an egg
solving New York Times puzzles
              in the morning
   to get my brain going
sleeping soundly most nights
   writing down whats happened
and what I hope will happen
      in the someday
   far off like a rain cloud
10% chance of rain
       new moons and full moons
    changing seasons

Children dipping French fries
into a milkshake for the first time
      shared with me by a friend
   when there were years
               we didn't speak
and I can't go a day without
      saying something to her
              blessings.
      buying stupid silly little things
             I don't need.
               but can afford
                        and want.
      a fridge so full
          in the kitchen
     it looks like the fridges 
 I only saw in other people's
         houses.

Asking ChatGPT 
      if my poetry is well-written.
Analyze me, please.
           He...she...it...says
select works are technically good.
      I'm on the fence about a.i. 
         till it compliments me for three paragraphs.
  chest puffed out like a dove cooing
              struting by the highway.
        learning and mastering skills
  which I was told were unattainable
         by whom I cannot recall
             them like their opinion
     not note worthy.

    Vintage cartoons in the background
with all the un-PC stuff, unsanitized,
     unflinching. how I pretend to be
sometimes and sometimes am.
        reading a classic novel
             from the late 1800's
  and seeing how much
I've already known was pulled from it.
   nothing's original and it gives me hope.
     that I can be tired and cliche and old
       but treated good and new 
         with proper repackaging.
I want to proclaim my reading
         to show people I not only can
    but do regularly read.
         interesting stuff even.

I'm interesting.
  I'm smart even if I don't show it.
     really. I probably am cool.
  but no one sees it. 
maybe it's ok maybe it's good
    to be cool just for me
  and no one else.
         probably better.
     a day off of work 
 and I don't check email
        followed by a day off work
but I do check my email. 
   failing at washing the dogs because
  they run and I won't chase.

      Thank God I'm not ten years younger
not stressing over all the people,
              places, things I can't control.
    not spinning my gears over 
someone who does NOT give a shit about me.
      even when they shit everyday and flush it away
    and really I think it wouldn't be 
        hard to give out their shit
             seems they could spare a square
of course that a pop culture reference and
            if my head's out of my ass
       long enough
I might see less shit
         maybe none at all
     like what the fuck was I crying about
                  two days ago
      when there's really real problems out there
   starvation and war and dead babies 
     blood and fires in streets 
babies will die before they touch a French fry
         and never see a milkshake, but me?

I have
  calm, drama-free days back to back
with little crafts thrown in-between
    being in love with all my friends
             sending them little gifts in mail
    remembering she's dead before
I remember he's dead.
    tears can be healing medicine
  I learned that when

      my husband ate my tears once
right off my face in a small side room
                  we were alone this was
years ago before we were married
   he said he didn't know why he did it
but he had to and he ate my hurt
         made it his for a day.
one finger, one tear, one mouth.
     we both felt healed.
    Today, I set up his new phone 
cooked a meal he really likes
    put fresh sheets on the bed
and he says he's a happy boy
     gosh this is actually  nice.

it's not what I don't have
      but all that I do.

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