Dean Okamura

Tell me I'm not the only one

This quiet holds tense anticipation

somewhere between anxiety and hope

                                                       A pause

Uneasy silent waiting

head sinuses pressed by unknown hands

It's time to move but dread of taking

the wrong step checks my resolve

 

Beyond the safety of my room

                                                       There

Lies a world bent on destruction

Yet my challenge is small

to venture forth

With my body growing frail

and my mind running wild

 

You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever … what-ever

January 1, (2024),
I'm lying in bed with my aging body,
Kind of tired,
Not sure if I want to get up or what to do.

 

     ???

 

It's been five minutes since I wrote that last line.

 

I'm still in bed.

 

     I guess I could wait another hour
     Before I find the power
     To get up and take a shower.
     This rhyme is getting sour.

 

I get it.

 

     Get up!
     Happy New Year!
     2024 will be wonderful,
     Happy, prosperous,
     Everything you ever wanted.
     You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever … what-ever.

 

I feel like a baseball.
Somebody threw me really hard at the catcher.
I hit the ground,
Then I went astray.
I'm stuck in that wiry fence.
And someone needs to take me out,
So take me out, take me out, out …

 

     Out of this bed,
     Out of my silly head,
     Out …

 

Oh, not that again!