Economic Downturn

If you're like millions of Americans around the country, you're unemployed. Or, if you're like millions more you're working an unbelievably low-paying job that's barely making ends meet. I fall, currently, into category number 2. While I'm optimistic that my situation will change soon, it cannot be denied which category I'm in. Often, lately, I get pretty upset about it. Just a few short months ago I was pulling in a decent salary; I had great benefits, and I had money left over at the end of each month. Right now is a very, very different story. I have a crappy part-time job. I live in an area where hardly anyone is hiring, and those places that are offer equally crappy part-time jobs. And, I barely have 2 pennies to put together at the end of each month.

Out of my frustration and angst came this poem. I've been really upset for a long time over this, and some really small part of myself finally clicked this morning. A switch was flipped. I think I'm at the very beginning stages of not feeling so bad about my predicament. I still have food in my belly. I still have a roof over my head. I have clothes on my back, and I'm not sleeping in a shack in Uganda. I can be thankful. So... here it is. New poetry.

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

Economic Downturn

A prayer, a plea, a promise

to myself and, of course, to the

white milky center of the universe

which giveth and taketh back to the store.

A prayer to pray for blessing and to rid

of worry, to pray for stability and

smiles inside my wallet. For

a bit of joy that money can by - or

at least offset the cost of.

A plea for pity and expedience

for assuredness for the end of waiting

and the beginning of satisfaction.

A knees on the ground, forehead pressed

on wood floor, guttural plea for

better times.

A promise to the Great Return Desk

in the sky and to myself - the last one

most of all - that I will not break, but

bend like the reeds of the Nile,

change course like a swan in spring.

A prayer, a plea, a promise for joy

in my belly, stability in my heart,

and warm bliss in my mind - with

fiery spirit to guide and to make the

bending all the more painless.