Millions for A Millipede
for Antoinette Penha

as if some muscles in my person,
in my personality are nonfunctioning

aggressive about some things
complacent about some others

half of me active, half as if atrophied
unable to activate what refuses to move
what refuses to budge

like limbs active, activated
as many others unable to move

unable to get message to them
or through them
unable to get through to them

have I the will it takes to better myself
financially, am I able to make myself
attractive for a wife
guardian of a family

I shall need divine assistance
I shall need inspiration
a wife alone can bring

need circulation going through my entire being

tired of feeling, of being hopeless
in the face of anything
outside of poetry and its environs

I do need to be more aggressive
about finances, about material possessions

I’d like to look attractive or more so
less monk-like regarding what I eat
and wear and drink
about how I go about and get about

I need to be less of an embarrassment
to who is attached to me
and to who might wish to be


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
1:10 a.m. 19.01.10