I told them last night
I’d be burning-up the phone this morning
I’d corner unemployment
Get things figured-out.
Played Risk on Playstation
Until three this morning
Woke up at ten thirty
Watched a DVD until 1.
Milked the special features.
Knew when I checked the time
That I’d failed miserably today
Got in the shower… tried to wash clean
Tried to wash clean… tried to wash clean…
And yet here I am…
There I was.
Finishing-up a big, heaping bowl of spaghetti
Spaghetti I didn’t pay for.
And it says in the Bible:
“A man who does not work shall not eat.”
And truthfully… I’m not even in the mood
To get that John 3:16 for you
It’s not John 3:16. That much I do know…
It’s a direct quote, word-for-word.
You can Google it if it’s that important to you.
Today, nothing is important to me…
Least of all myself.
I keep saying that if I had a car, I could find work
And if I could find work, I’d get a car
But the truth of things…
Mom came home with the groceries yesterday
And the dim-witted friend-of-friend on the phone
Just wouldn’t shut up!
And the words in the text window
Weren’t gonna’ be there when I finally hit submit…
I’d been working all morning
I was so close to finish…
So I finished. I Ctrl+Copied it
Hit submit… whada-ya’ know…
Logged back in, Ctrl+Pasted, submitted
Went out to the kitchen
The bags were all carried-in.
I figured she’d get mad and wait for me to do it by myself
Instead, she got mad and did it by herself
Thus proving the point she was making.
I can talk all I want about “If I had a car…”
“If I had a job…” But in reality…
I’m not even working around the house
My room’s littered with laundry
The den’s littered with random sheets of paper
The only “real” work I’m doing
I’m not even getting paid for
I’m not even getting to see the smiles on their faces
Is that work really real?
Or is it just a hobby I’m obsessing over?
Pleasure taken to the extent of work
Funny, that’s how all the self-help books say it should feel…
But the truth of the matter is, I didn’t earn today’s spaghetti
That makes me more un-Italian than the discovery
That I’m not quite 50%.
Not in the blood… not in the heart… not in the head.
I am less than 50%.
But you’d never know it when I write, would you?
Would you? I’d like to say that I should be getting paid for this…
But right about now, I don’t feel like I’m worth getting paid for anything.
| Poster | Thread |
|---|---|
| GoliathAssassin | Posted: 2010/2/4 0:59 Updated: 2010/2/4 0:59 |
Poetry is my existance   Joined: 2006/3/30 From: Detroit, Michigan. Left behind... Hickory and 8 mile for the suburban grind... Posts: 2200 |
 Re: Less Than FiftyHm... all of your adult life?
This may sound heartless... but maybe I can smile knowing that I've at least had it good for some long sprints of time!  Oh... I'm an opportunist, what can I say? |
| nightwithoutarmour | Posted: 2010/2/3 0:03 Updated: 2010/2/3 0:03 |
Me!? Quiet!? HA!   Joined: 2007/1/12 From: "Southern by the grace of God" Posts: 76 |
Re: Less Than Fifty i've had that problem all of my adult life. "i cant get a job with no car, but i cant get a car with no job" im sorry honey.... :( just try to have a little faith, i know its really hard.
:) |
| GoliathAssassin | Posted: 2010/1/28 13:31 Updated: 2010/1/28 13:31 |
Poetry is my existance Joined: 2006/3/30 From: Detroit, Michigan. Left behind... Hickory and 8 mile for the suburban grind... Posts: 2200 |
Re: Less Than Fifty CV? What's a CV? Lol, the programs may be similar, but I'm affraid the verbage is quite different! But yes, it might be wise to put my Trupoets involvement on a resume and strive for an editing job. THank you, Simon.
And thank you as well, Amed. Your final bit of advice is quite correct. I need more people in my daily-life telling me that. Thank you. Fortunately, there is now a brighter side to this story: http://trupoets.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=27790 (And just between you and me, it came FAR sooner than I had anticipated... one could almost say "miraculously.") |
| SirichJ | Posted: 2010/1/28 9:19 Updated: 2010/1/28 9:19 |
Poetry is my existance  Joined: 2004/8/27 From: England, UK Posts: 2777 |
Re: Less Than Fifty It sounds like the US is quite similar to the UK in terms of benefits and training then! You should put Trupoets on your CV as an example of doing something productive while you're looking, maybe go for an editing job or something as I'm sure you have the skills to do it! Keep looking !!
|
| Meteophor | Posted: 2010/1/27 22:15 Updated: 2010/1/27 22:15 |
  Joined: 2007/6/13 From: Mesopotamia Posts: 1413 |
 Re: Less Than FiftyDavid,
man, I can relate to this write so much and in so many ways. I know how it feels like to eat and not work for what you've earned. Yet, I can't help but to say you've put hard work in making this piece of poetry of yours really special. There is honesty here, and that is very rare amongst humanity these days. Like others may have mentioned, society makes us think that by not working in a job that most people never truly want to do anyway is the norm. However, the point of still earning the bread as it is said, can seem very daunting. One piece of advice would be to find something that you love and you are truly passionate about and make it so that you are not only working with something you enjoy doing but also earn financial independence from too. Thanks for sharing this write David, as always a pleasure. |
| GoliathAssassin | Posted: 2010/1/26 21:06 Updated: 2010/1/26 21:06 |
Poetry is my existance Joined: 2006/3/30 From: Detroit, Michigan. Left behind... Hickory and 8 mile for the suburban grind... Posts: 2200 |
Re: Less Than Fifty First of all, thanks for all your comments. ANd SImon, I am VERY much of the same oppinion as you. I don't want to give 30% of MY check while I'm working to pay for someone else's grandma's retirement or medicare. I want to have that money to myself to spend on MY grandpa so that he can have better options until he leaves. I also don't want to pay for women having five children for more food stamps... Or guys who are out of work because of a life-wrenching drug or alcohol addiction. And I definitely do feel that I am that guy wanting to get college training, but finding-out that the only month to hit-up federal "No Worker Left Behind" money is in January, because by April the yearly budget is already promised, and by August the yearly budget is already spent! And here's January... and where's my truck?
But Tobi, you're right too. No matter what, I'm the one that will make the positive changes in my life. Because nobody else is even paying that much attention to me or anyone besides themselves. We are all our own greatest asset in the world today. Thanks again, everyone! It was great logging-in to 11 messages in my inbox from things going on around the site. Makes what little work I do seem legitimate, if not merely a distraction from what else needs doing... |
| SirichJ | Posted: 2010/1/26 9:49 Updated: 2010/1/26 9:49 |
Poetry is my existance Joined: 2004/8/27 From: England, UK Posts: 2777 |
Re: Less Than Fifty I would have put the last stanza in simply because the rest of it is so long 'a la' your style recently so it wouldn't have made a difference keeping it in and I liked the bit you left out ;)
Sadly, a lot of people have an excuse not to work, if it's not one thing it's something else and that is one of the major problems here in the UK, it's made worse by the government not making people work and giving them money to stay at home so people like me, who work full time, have to give 30% of my money away which I disagree with as I get no benefits or tax relief. The people who want to work don't get enough training or help to get the jobs available and then it's a vicious cycle that's hard to get out of. I understand what you're saying in the poem, you can look for excuses why you're not looking for work but you know that it's either lack of motivation or lazyness and you recognise this, there will always be stuff to do, like when you're on holiday and the time just seems to fly, that's what your life will become if things don't change so I hope you can change them :) |
| Retribution101 | Posted: 2010/1/25 18:04 Updated: 2010/1/25 18:04 |
Lead Moderator   Joined: 2005/9/16 From: Behind You! Posts: 2730 |
Re: Less Than Fifty Ok, first let me say that you are definitely writing more from the heart than ever before. Ok, now time to be a mom
You are definitely addressing the issue, you know where the faults are, next step is finding a way to fix em, no matter what...And nobody can change your life for you, you must take the reins and change it yourself. You know I am only tough on you cause I love ya. |
| guitarmonkey | Posted: 2010/1/25 16:19 Updated: 2010/1/25 16:19 |
Poetry is my existance  Joined: 2006/3/20 From: behind the door. Posts: 2308 |
Re: Less Than Fifty :( David, you wrote a poem about how a lot of Americans feel right now..I have more to say but I will tell you when you get online.
And I don't think the last stanza was too much. |
| GoliathAssassin | Posted: 2010/1/25 13:32 Updated: 2010/1/25 13:32 |
Poetry is my existance Joined: 2006/3/30 From: Detroit, Michigan. Left behind... Hickory and 8 mile for the suburban grind... Posts: 2200 |
Re: Less Than Fifty I wasn't sure when I posted... if I should include the final stanza:
"Part of me wants to fast every Tuesday like the pastor Or every-other day like that weird guy, Ron I used to work with Part of me wonders whether there’d be any moral or artistic beauty In a toilet bowl filled with spaghetti But I wouldn’t want to start any habits That seem so hard for others to break." I thought maybe it was "too much." |