3 Hots and a Cot
boarding house
$200 a week
blow through $4K in a month instead
and now it's rehab in another psych ward
3 hots and a cot
you got a lot
of nerve
i've got boxes full of your crap
and now your family has them too
we've all got pieces of you
as we all watch you fall to pieces
you got a lot of them
can the cot hold them all?
do I care?
i guess I do
because I still have
these pieces of you
to pick up
and sweep away
hoping for
a better day
for all of us
3 hots and a cot
is all you got
and it's all you ever wanted
i wanted so much more
Advertisement
(for someone I know, whenever he may find himself)
You know, some things really have to change in order for Barack to effect change....
Some people really have to pick themselves up by their freaking bootstraps and work for a living and take pride in the fact that they earn a decent paycheck. I know most do, I know that, just as I know some who work hard still can't stay afloat...
But those who just sit back and think family and friends and lovers (even former lovers) will gladly jump when they say how high can you get me when I say I want to get high and jump through these hoops, bitch, jump, jump, jump.....
They need to land. They need to come down to earth and learn a very hard lesson in life.
No one is subject to pay their way through life, except themselves.
Rant over. Sympathy on hold. Sorry to take up space with a personal thing that maybe isn't so personal after all.
Better here than on some godawful intervention show, though, eh?
December 4, 2008 12:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good poem.
But don't ever try to explain a poem. The whole point of poetry is the level where it moves if it works, which is not an "explanation" level, it's the "AHA" level.
December 4, 2008 1:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
And you, DS, you paternalistic, pedantic dummy - you're such a sensitive guy, eh? Kinda obvious that LisB's intent was not to impress people with her skills, but to share something.
December 4, 2008 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds very painful for all involved. I hope he gets his shit together.
December 4, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Comment immediately above is addressed to LisB re: the person she wrote about, but could be reasonably construed to refer to DS as well.
December 4, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
The "AHA" level?
Explain.
December 4, 2008 1:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
There I go again. You meant "a-ha!", didn't you?
As in, "A-ha, Watson!".
Yes, I over explain my poems, but only here at TPM, because here at TPM it's a political place. And I wasn't sure my poem was political enough, seeing as how, tonight, it's nothing but personal.
I felt selfish for putting my personal rant up there for all to see, so I tried to make it important to all.
December 4, 2008 2:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
We were discussing walrus hunting, Red Ryder Wagons and trance dancing in Morocco, so probably anything goes. Until they rein us in.
December 4, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the post Lis. Beautiful and sad. Like life, eh?
December 4, 2008 5:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Been there, done that.
There's no rules for poetry.
iambic pentameter
i dont miss you a whit
i want to know what the picture is
and if it seems to fit
I cant write it
but sometimes I get good read on it.
Where did the other $3200 go?
December 4, 2008 7:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sometimes people need to hit bottom before they can bounce back.
I hope things start getting better for all concerned. You're a sweetheart, Lis.
December 4, 2008 7:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
e e lisb
December 4, 2008 8:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
The beautiful thing about this place is that people can write such a short comment, knowing that other people will decode it correctly.
By the way, I just love your avatar! Please never change it!
December 4, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Poetry makes its own comments. Leave it alone. In the end, all meaning is derived from the reader anyway. The artists are merely mediums of the Divine. God speaks in Art. S/he speaks to people where they are, not where S/he is.
As for the friend, and for any of us, we get what we really, really want. Because we wanted them more then any of the things we did not want to do to be somewhere else.
December 4, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
say it and move on
I say
still...
sometimes saying
it at the
world
is not what it
takes
blog-foddering a
friend however
lost
cracked
broken
supine
hungry
does what?
persistency
can have long term
meaning to you
yet
unknown
yet...
at other times not
saying feels
muzzled
glottal loss
psychic
asphyxiation
we crack, break
ruinously
made of pieces where
our bits are
oddly
sweepable
personal is always
even here
political
what is
po liti
cal?
[polit i cal?]
machine rage?
ether rage?
workable rage?
simply rage
same as
per son
al?
[person al?]
self-membering?
dis-membering?
re-membering?
membering
having said your
feelings makes
better?
and my silly poem
really just alpha bits
of support.
December 4, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I feel compelled to write, but really, there is nothing to say. Why speak? Poetry is to hear with the heart. You left me ... open. There is Hope.
December 4, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great post, LisB!
Thoughts and feelings spilled by Lis
Captain A-Hat follows with pontification
Others, though, poetically inspired
Grace all with personal creations.
December 4, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you all.
December 9, 2008 7:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love this, lis. As I was reading, I was listening to the melody in my head--a gritty, soulful tune.
December 10, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink