Dangerous To My Health Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

There are those who were born,
To have no other purpose in life...
Than to agitate others.

I admit,
When I was younger...
I thought I would like to specialize in this field.
Since I was told by several people,
How I got on their last nerve.
And the doing of it I found to be quite easy.

I became bored with that.
Especially when I discovered there were others,
Practicing this craft.
And not doing it with enough bite.
So tempted was I to help them redo their agitations.
I was very serious when I thought I should show them,
My own techniques.

I was young and full of testing authority.
If my parents were alive,
They would confirm and validate my comments.

But...
When my mama screamed at the top of her lungs,
Pulling on her hair with her eyes bulged out...
Shouting at me one day,
'Boy, that's it! You've gotten on my 'last' nerve.'
I knew then...
I was able to do it to such a degree,
To threaten my own existence.

She frightened me.
And I knew then I had reached perfection.
And something inside me said...
Continuing to do that could be dangerous to my health.
So needless to say...
I've discovered more advantageous skills to develop,
Over the years.