I have weary legs. my overgrown shadow
Laughs at me when I walk
My lungs are full of toxins
My brain is full of medication
My skin itches with excema
I will be thirty four in a few months.

I choke on my food
I have a small throat
I have scars on my knuckles
Broken windows.

I have a tear in my arm,
Over active youth
I used to be active
From Sunlight to sundown.

I would play outside
Hoop dreams in my heart
I have an over active mind
I have a slow mind
And dead legs.

I have addictions
I feel ugly in suits and ties
And feel the degradation of time.

I am slowly falling apart
I feel like a don’t walk sign
But I don’t stop
And the cars keep on coming.

I have a less then cheerful smile
I have big dreams and empty pockets
I have trouble concentrating
I am only on when you turn the record on.

I can write a poem in ten minutes
I refuse to edit
I listen to the sound of trumpets.

They issue in a new era
Am I your error?
I am thirty seconds
Behind
I lost the point
I am on my way
To decay.

I need sunshine in my bones.

 

Jason Wright is the founder and Editor of Oddball Magazine. His “Jagged Thoughts” column appears weekly.