Don’t Get Me Wrong
in ways
too many
to tell
my life
has hastened
not
my back’s
pressed
to the counter
I hold up
gone is the girl
the-gonna-do-something-great-with-my-life-when-I-get-outta-here-girl
who dat
welcome to the misery
that is mid-life
my life
stuck on repeat
this sad, slow, commercial-free song
gone gold
top of the Billboard charts
oh, you don’t know
don’t know that song that’s playing
trust me …
give it five, 10, 20 years
you’ll know
exactly
I get why
people buy bright red cars
and Botox the L out of their face
and change the color of their hair like underwear
and get a passport and fly to anywhere-but-here
and take their money and gamble it even if they don’t know how
and go to rock concerts and jump up and down like dogs at the door
and end up taking yoga and golf and cooking and pottery and Tai Chi
and reading every article about skincare and going organic and what vitamin does what when
and wearing workout clothes for daytime, nighttime, bedtime, anytime
and saying things out loud that you thought you were just thinking to yourself
and pumping gas and wondering who the L is that reflected in the car window you’re looking at
and getting online and looking up the word: Mid-Life …
“the central period of a person’s life, generally considered as the years from about 45 to 55”
10 years of Mid-Life
great
then what
60, 70, 80, 90
wisdom is overrated
undercut
and aging is a cruel crime
indeed
they up and throw away the key
so, if you’re young
be young
I didn’t say stupid
don’t be stupid young
be-smarter-than-you-look-young
so, you can make it to mid-life
60, 70, 80, 90
don’t get me wrong
it is a privilege
to get to grow old
no matter how sad
the song
TL