Things To Do Instead Of Doin’ Meth

The young man who installed our internet

said the next county over is the meth capital

 

of the state. He half-laughed and said It’s sad,

but there’s really nothing else for people to do.

 

I found that opinion bleak for his age so I said

Well they could read the collected stories of

 

William Trevor or study the rich history of wine

or count bald eagles on Lake Catherine, right?

 

He hesitated a moment then said Yeah, I guess

that’s true, but most of ’em’d rather do meth.

 

I wanted to ask him Who’s the president of

the meth capital, like the head honcho?

 

But I wanted installed internet more and

I could see our conversation distracted him.

 

He finished the job (well done) and left with

all my banking information plus at least

 

three strong contenders for a lush new list:

THINGS TO DO INSTEAD OF DOIN’ METH.

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5 Comments

  1. Marilyn Yocum on January 20, 2022 at 8:07 am

    Hahahahahaha. Are you cutting the list off at some point, like after the list has 500 ideas? Or a thousand?

  2. Barbara H Romfo on January 20, 2022 at 9:27 am

    I was preparing to teach our church’s addiction class on shame yesterday and I re-watched Johann Hari’s TED Talk on Rat Park, so your poem was timely. The question that haunted me as I read was “Have these people had enough genuine connection to another person to know that they are looking for just that.”

  3. Charis Crandall on January 20, 2022 at 11:57 am

    I’m so glad that you are writing again. We need your words in the world (certainly more than we need meth in the world!)

  4. David on January 20, 2022 at 5:33 pm

    Sad state of affairs ??‍♂️

  5. Alyson on February 11, 2022 at 4:38 pm

    I love your poetry, John. I enjoy the free style and food for thought.

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