Acting My Age

They said I should act my age 
the committee of higher ups and wanna be’s
all  perfect citizens  in good  standing of the co op
where we shared a common postal code 
and little else
hell…. lets be honest ….nothing else
waiting in their  self built quieu of crossed t’s and dotted eyes
as if they were orderly soldiers
waiting to be dispatched on a daily crusade
to make sure the hallways were always  tidy
your name plate not too big….and certainly never too small
the elevators went up and the elevators  went down
that dogs kept their owners on a leash at all times
stay on the path…. stay on the path…
don’t you know you must stay on their path to be one of us


I started to believe the rumors 
that even the candles on  their birthday cakes
stood  perfectly erect for hours 
as the burning wick took all that there was to take
leaving the solitary evidence of their existence 
a mere pool of cold wax
spent …listless… shapeless…
 not even the scent of ever being here remained
having been blown out to sea 
by the whim of nobody cares anymore..they never truly did
a life had simply come and gone as if it had never been
like an unused paper plate  waiting to be discarded in a garbage bag
recyclable of course or at least that was the dream 
or perhaps it was it the plan

A life unlived is a song never sung
an uneaten morsel of chocolate cake
laying under a layer of calorie reduced icing 
of course why would you want to enjoy icing 
as you counted down the days the minutes
the seconds…… your heartbeats 
to arrival  at never never land
do they not know
has no one else been brave enough to tell them
none of us… none of us… none of us
get off the planet alive
let me eat the cake of my choice please
I’ll take the large one… 
 if you don’t mind
                                  Irish
Copyright © | Year Posted 2011

Poem

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Poyntz Avatar
March 6, 2011 at 6:02 PM
Sara...thank you . Coming from you that comment means a lot to me. Michael/Irish
Kendrick Avatar
March 6, 2011 at 2:13 PM
Enjoyed reading your work this afternoon..I especially liked the line "the dog kept its owner on its lease at all times" and the last two lines...I am glad that I chose this one to read today..Sara
Mehta Avatar
March 6, 2011 at 1:23 PM
Beautiful expression quite meaningful, Michael
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