"houseplants" poems - Hello Poetry

1 The hardest thing you will ever do Is care for someone who has no interest In caring for themselves It is grocery shopping at 2am Shortly after work When this morning I realized There is no food in the house It is a week’s worth of food I can barely afford 2 Growing up there were 2 churches in my neighborhood On Wednesdays The one closest to the elementary school gave away bread On Fridays The one near my grandmother’s house gave out canned goods It was always fun to see what arrived in the big brown boxes It was like Christmas Except if it was close to Christmas Because the boxes were always a little more full than usual around then 3 She sits all day in a robe Mismatched socks A cigarette between permanently pursed lips She is the closest thing to crazy cat lady That I have seen in real life Except These are not cats These are children Still dumb enough to not see that something is wrong 4 He is an old man Doing what old men do Around the time of forgetfulness And the time where your body stops doing what you tell it to Like to not **** your pants 5 They are like houseplants And goldfish purchased from the same market Living things whose only interest is dying Like sheep open mouthed at the beauty of the rain Sheep sometimes drown in the rain 6 I feel like I’m drowning In a shallow pond The kind of drowning that takes effort And humility The kind where the gasps of air are enough To fill me with hope for a little longer It is water-logged hope At the bottom of a drying well When the mouth at the top Look so much like laughing 7 I know Airing out your ***** laundry in public Doesn’t clean your clothes As much as it lets everyone know how bad you can smell Which reminds me I have laundry to do in the morning

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May 2, 2012

May 2, 2012 at 7:02 AM UTC

jon-tobias

I've got Laundry to do in the Morning

1 The hardest thing you will ever do Is care for someone who has no interest In caring for themselves It is grocery shopping at 2am Shortly after work When this morning I realized There is no food in the house It is a week’s worth of food I can barely afford 2 Growing up there were 2 churches in my neighborhood On Wednesdays The one closest to the elementary school gave away bread On Fridays The one near my grandmother’s house gave out canned goods It was always fun to see what arrived in the big brown boxes It was like Christmas Except if it was close to Christmas Because the boxes were always a little more full than usual around then 3 She sits all day in a robe Mismatched socks A cigarette between permanently pursed lips She is the closest thing to crazy cat lady That I have seen in real life Except These are not cats These are children Still dumb enough to not see that something is wrong 4 He is an old man Doing what old men do Around the time of forgetfulness And the time where your body stops doing what you tell it to Like to not **** your pants 5 They are like houseplants And goldfish purchased from the same market Living things whose only interest is dying Like sheep open mouthed at the beauty of the rain Sheep sometimes drown in the rain 6 I feel like I’m drowning In a shallow pond The kind of drowning that takes effort And humility The kind where the gasps of air are enough To fill me with hope for a little longer It is water-logged hope At the bottom of a drying well When the mouth at the top Look so much like laughing 7 I know Airing out your ***** laundry in public Doesn’t clean your clothes As much as it lets everyone know how bad you can smell Which reminds me I have laundry to do in the morning