Why I can't dance in hell

I push the metal cart up and down the supermarket aisle.

Pile in processed food after processed food, 

unable to find the produce department. I slide over

to the gym to lift weights, but since I’ve forgotten how to count

I can’t get past the eighth rep. The rooms here are all square,

the computer keyboard is not in alphabetical order and

superheroes die just like the rest of us. In this place,

all microwave popcorn gets burnt to black ashy nuggets

speckled with artificial butter. Newspaper headlines knock

on doors and scream their news all night long. The ambulance

in the distance is always coming for one of my children.

Here, I stand before the homeless person.  Both of us are wrapped

in old tweed suits, and I can’t remember his name.

The question of whether to give him the two gold coins

that are squabbling in my pocket remains unanswered. 

The person who knows such things is never around.  

It is in this place that I perpetually ransack the corners of my house,

unable to find the diagram that has the dance steps on it.

Reviews

[Naomi Montana Walsh]

These thoughts sound kin to many I have had but your words are more apt than any I could come up with, I love your title as well.

[Lisa Hickey]

thank you all for you comments. I do try hard to show you the world through the uniqueness of my eyesight.

[Tate Morgan]

An interesting story to be sure Always amazing to see something through anothers eyes
tate

[A. Greenberg]

Lovely. You manage to say an amazing amount without ever ACTUALLY saying it. I believe that is a mark of a gifted poet.

[Ed Hart]

welcome to planet Earth...you have described it very well...I think if we could all find a way to take turns rolling this stone up the mountain, or even push it together, it would be a little easier...evidently, we haven't evolved to that point yet...here, I think it's your turn...

[Emmanuel Rosado]

wow that...that something right there it pretty good and mine r nothing comapere to urs wow i like it

[Eagle Cruagh]

It is plane to see that your poem is about
your hell, but why you can`t dance ?
Oh, there it is ; you can`t find the diagram !

Clever poem and insightful.

Is that your fertile imagination ? Or, did you just
have a hell of a day ?

Beautifully done.

------ Eagle Cruagh

[D.R. Wilsey Jr.]

Welcome to the Cafe. This is a great addition to the site, I must say. And a wonderful job at creating, in my mind anyway, what must be an accurate portrait of someone's own personal hell.

[Antonio Valentino]

Absolutely superb!

Looking forward to reading more Lisa.
Welcome to the, Cafe.

Brilliant.
Antonio