it is difficult to be stupid everyday

December 4, 2013  (I was 69)

it is difficult to be stupid everyday

I seem to forget how nearly every night

Just before I fall asleep I feel smartness creep in

I wake up clear-headed and practical

at times even ambitious and tolerant

perfectly willing to pass others with a smile

wishing them good morning as if it were mine to bestow

Soon I get to thinking change is possible

and encounter the complexity of inertia

a recollection of mindlessness at first

a low drone the scent of futility remembered

from history books and faded newspaper

the re-acquaintance with the shadow of doubt

who leans closer to whisper in the afternoon

to suggest it’s time to prepare a dinner of fatted sloth

and the recipe falls to mind step by step

beginning with a slow heat to render the fat

before stewing the meat in the amalgam of ingredients

that simmer into a singular tastelessness

I eat my fill directly from the pot in front of the TV

watching I think some game show where luck

decides whether someone wins or loses today