by Mary E. Lowd
I feel like a phone whose battery
Has a maximum capacity
Of 20%
Sometimes I crash so badly
I’m left alone to recharge to full
But even then my battery drains
So fast
And so I have to stay plugged in
As often as I can
Binging TV shows like I’m mainlining cocaine
Doing as little as possible
To save what charge I have
For the inevitable emergencies
That happen every day
When my child falls apart
When my mother bemoans her life
And it’s my job to stay positive
To tell them it’ll be okay
And so I don’t have any charge left
To go anywhere or do anything
And there’s never time
Never ever time
To take me in
And let me off the hook long enough
To get my battery replaced
So I limp along like this