Anxiety 101 Poem by RIC BASTASA

when you eat
not to fill your hunger
but to feed
time
to make it preoccupied
so that
it won't bother you for long
with its
boredom

when you drink
not to satisfy your thirst for water
but to please
your lips for what has been
missing

when you miss the alcoholic
breath
of life
the dance of life
in cold and damp
nights

when your arms embrace no one
when your hands
wish for the usual touch
when what you hear is the wind
that gushes on your
window panes
when you arrive home
and no one
greets you
when the only pet dog you have
dies
when the furniture
is accumulating dust from the
other side of
the street

when you dream
and nothing comes
true