July 11, 2024: Last Night’s Headstone

Another unplanned hangover.

This hangover is the headstone of last night’s “Let’s have another round of beer” loop. (And don’t forget the tequila shots.) Imagine three men in their mid-thirties talking about the dos and don’ts of pregnancy over a beer, or two, or three, or that last number that comes before “I lost count how many beers we had.” That’s how ridiculous last night was. If the conversation we had suddenly appeared in a movie, I’d stop watching the movie. You should’ve been there to see us talk like experts, like a bunch of wasted obstetricians. What were we trying to prove? And, most importantly, now that I’m thinking about it, who won? 

Overall, I blame the tequila shots (that I really wanted to drink). But it was a good night nonetheless. It really was. On last night’s headstone, we can boastfully carve the epitaph: “We did what we wanted to do,” i.e., we had another round of beer ad infinitum

After the Vacation

After the vacation comes
the brain fog,
the arduous task to reaccept the status quo,
and the quicksand that gradually swallows you
back into the routine you escaped from.

Even though you’ve come back (refreshed) to conquer,
You’re procrastinating still, snoozing, postponing
the great battle.
The warrior’s armor waits for you in the closet.
Your heart still hasn’t synchronized with
the rhythm of the hammer striking the anvil.

But you must get up anyway.
So, you get up now.
You get out of bed.

There’s work to be done.

A cold shower,
then coffee.

You wear your armor.

The sun rises to meet a clear, blue sky
that appears to have never met dark, grey clouds.
But you remember the winter storms.
You remember every war you’ve won.

If God wills it,
you will win this one, too.

And when you’re done,
the boulder will rest on the top of the hill,
and it will never roll back down.


The System Is Flawed

The system is flawed; otherwise, it wouldn’t work.
If it weren’t flawed, we’d go mad —
it would officially be
a dystopia.

“How can you tell we’re not already in a dystopia?”
“Because we still have hope.”

The system is flawed, and that’s why it’s still working.
And hope lives in that loophole
that the flaw has slit.