I’m in my forties now
and if I knock my knee it aches for days
even if I can’t say
precisely when and how I did it
Vexed I am left to neck ibuprofen
and recall what I took for granted
in the fat rosiness of my twenties
But I have my own front door
and a car
and keys for both
and when things go wrong I can fix them
or at least pay a guy called Steve
to pop round and do that for me
while I watch the news and tut
I have my own front door
behind which I can hide safe
with only the news to scare me,
I put a tire iron under my bed
to feel better
Late at night I look out the window
from time to time
to see the reassuring flash
of my car’s alarm indicator
and I wonder in the dark who else can see it
The news and my social media
say things are bad and getting worse
so I’m glad of my front door
I don’t go out too much anymore
anyway
not like the past
when knocks and bumps were shrugged off
and my guts could take a hit
and I was one of the people
making drunken noises in the night
but it was just a laugh, right?
Not like now.
These folk have no respect.
I lock the door as soon as I am in,
car or house
and check the news again.
I might call Steve and see if he can set me up
some CCTV.
Aug 10, 2020
Aug 10, 2020 at 10:25 AM UTC
I’m in my forties now
and if I knock my knee it aches for days
even if I can’t say
precisely when and how I did it
Vexed I am left to neck ibuprofen
and recall what I took for granted
in the fat rosiness of my twenties
But I have my own front door
and a car
and keys for both
and when things go wrong I can fix them
or at least pay a guy called Steve
to pop round and do that for me
while I watch the news and tut
I have my own front door
behind which I can hide safe
with only the news to scare me,
I put a tire iron under my bed
to feel better
Late at night I look out the window
from time to time
to see the reassuring flash
of my car’s alarm indicator
and I wonder in the dark who else can see it
The news and my social media
say things are bad and getting worse
so I’m glad of my front door
I don’t go out too much anymore
anyway
not like the past
when knocks and bumps were shrugged off
and my guts could take a hit
and I was one of the people
making drunken noises in the night
but it was just a laugh, right?
Not like now.
These folk have no respect.
I lock the door as soon as I am in,
car or house
and check the news again.
I might call Steve and see if he can set me up
some CCTV.
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