Last Things First Poem by Joshua Bantum

At noon I woke up
told myself to make some sense
of the world

of war
of love
of peace
of hatred

I begged myself to make reasons
for these things

But then I was distracted
by thoughts of an unpaid dentist bill

taking a shower
I contemplated about women I've loved
and those I will

Half way through it
as my temperature rose
I quickened my pace, I had work soon
so I had to rush,
plus I had a bill to go pay, a late fee to
Talk myself out from...

I shut off the water, lost steam,
And cleaned myself haphazardly
cause i couldn't finish

Walking out the door I thought about
Love
Peace
Hatred and war
I thought about how little they mean to me
how little the energy that society put into those words
was affecting me,
I thought about how useless they were
when I couldn't even pay my Dentist bill