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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

by Nancy Grossman

Procrastination lives unfortunately...

Been procrastinating again, and I am aware that I cannot keep doing this and survive (I know, sounds dramatic - it is dramatic). So, all the pieces I've been working on congealed to create this poem. It's okay, not great, but it is done and I am posting and that is the most important thing for me right now! I hope you enjoy it - I think it has a moment or two of humor.



“Procrastination” I’ve adopted as my middle name.
But the fear I feel when I practice sends my heart up into flame.
I say “I will!” I’ll do something, but it somehow does not get done,
And it’s not that I’m out screwing around and having a barrel of monkeys fun.
I’m up against the wall of my unconscious, comfortable life.
Been recently bringing upon myself a great deal of uncomfortable strife.
The emotional stuff is just too raw to speak of at this time,
But the physical stuff I’m up to bringing forward in more rhyme.
I fell while walking with sisters on an Oakland trail’s stick,
Smashed boob and knee and hip it was a very scary trick.
I crashed my car into the car of Agent M’s Lacrosse
The FBI’s not so scary – my cookies did not toss.
It was my fault I blame myself, I lost track of the road
I had glanced down at my i-phone to see a certain code.
The chest again got singled out for trauma at this hour,
When air bag threw into my heart its nasty big white flower.
I had been thinking of visiting my friendly auto dealer,
I did not suspect it would be so soon and upon the back of an 18 wheeler.
Six days have passed since that grey day and between the cracks I fell,
My insurance company forgot about my car’s unhappy hell.
No one has gone to check its wounds to see if they can be healed,
Or if a death knoll will be sounded and the fate of my rates then sealed.
But I will not give up the hope that life will again be good,
As cell phone safely sleeps inside the glove box as it should.
I am aware much more these days of my procrastination,
My middle name will have to change if joy is to be my station.
So just for now, this poem must stand, though it is three days late,
A hope in my heart for a middle name change and a decent auto rate.


2 comments:

  1. Well! It was definitely a bad week or day, but the good thing is you are well and so is the other person. Time to take a deep breath, put your feet up, get a cup of tea (or maybe a glass of wine), sigh, close your eyes, and let Howard bring the universe back into alignment. You remember Howard, don't you...as in Our Father who art in heaven, Howard be thy name.

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  2. Howard must have wanted you to get a new car. He's good about insisting we procrastinators take action, whether we want to or not. Just like that, poof, He throws us into a situation that requires doing the exact thing we procrastinated in taking care of. Then sometimes, we procrastinate long enough that the whole issue is moot and action is no longer required. That's what I strive for in my procrastination - the shortening of the To Do list by attrition. Three cheers for procrastination and attrition!

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