A Temporary Dissent

By Mary Wisniewski

Don’t feel like counting my blessings.
Don’t feel like watching TV
Don’t feel like looking on the bright side.
Don’t want to leave tulips on a stranger’s porch,
Or learn Polish verbs on Babbel
I’m going to drink Luksusowa with an ice cube
And a couple of olives
Listen to the Midnight Special
Read “A Clash of Kings”
And cry a little for my mom
And my dad
And my sister
And my profession, and yours
Jobs lost and lives gone and the only good thing in the rotten world
Is that you can see the Himalayas now
From Punjab. The earth is getting a break
From its human contagion
Of which I am a small, dyspeptic part.
Tomorrow I’ll be cheerful again
I’ll go to Facebook Mass
And play the accordion
And draw chalk hearts on the sidewalk
‘Cause we’re all in this together
And I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.
But tonight I’ll be gloomy
Tonight I’ll cultivate my crapitude
Like an orchid flower
And just for tonight
I decline to stay calm
And carry on.