In the Dark

 

I’m having this problem, see,

changing a light bulb in the ceiling

the ladder is a bit wobbly, the window

too close to the ladder, so I flatten the ladder

against the wall but then I can’t reach the light bulb,

I could stand on the counter but I might slip, no, the ladder

is the best strategy, but - here’s the irony - it’s dusk and I can’t

see to change the light bulb, I should have done this earlier, but I was at

the library trying to copy an important legal document which may or may not

determine my final wishes, but I ran out of dimes, so I stopped at the corner tavern

to mooch a few coins, the game - the game - who can leave during the fourth quarter, then

sudden death, so you can see I’m having this problem changing a light bulb in the ceiling, then

I hear the news, the news, it’s Darfur, I don’t know where that is but there’s a fund established

by celebrities, and the endless body count in Iraq, the drove of global warnings, what do you

expect from someone who is having a problem changing a light bulb, what can I do about

these disasters heralded in every edition of the morning news, every evening somber

stones of stories at dinnertime, I stiffen at the thought of my incompetence and

guilt as if some parent tap, tap, taps his foot impatiently while I blather on

about the light bulb, children are starving, soldiers are dying, the earth is

gray with ash, scarred from pole to pole, I can’t seem to maneuver

the ladder back into the garage until morning when it’s light

and I can see, so I leave it against the wall; I’m having

this problem, see, it’s like this, a burned out 100

watt light bulb, all this electricity, and the

ladder, the wall, the window, the

library, the tavern, my

incomplete world

so dark and

utterly

small.

 

 

--- By Mimi Moriarty. Mimi Moriarty lives in Clarksville, NY.

 

This poem is previously published in Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley, Volume 2, Issue 1.

 

 

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content © - Mimi Moriarty
music: © - National Anthem Project (Central African Republic)
image ©DRDC (http://www.darfurcentre.ch/ )