Middle age is a bitch. This is where you learn that your teachers lied to you about there being four food groups. Now I know there are really five: meat, dairy, grain, fruit,………..and pharmaceuticals. This is a little ditty dedicated to all those who, like myself, find better living through chemicals.
Really don’t know when it started,
When my sanity first departed.
Some days I’d be so damned depressed
Couldn’t even get me dressed.
Hiding underneath the covers
Hoping maybe I would smother.
Hiding out inside my room
In the darkness, in the gloom.
I said, “I can’t go on this way.
It’s just too hard to face the day.”
So I found an old head shrinker
In my head I let him tinker.
He said, “there’s two things I can do:
To help us make a happy you.
The first is spend years on my couch.
About your childhood you can grouch.
In maybe ten or twenty years,
You’ll know the reasons for your fears.
But if you don’t want to wait that long,
I’ve got something good and strong.
My boy, the cure for all your ills
Is right here in these pretty pills.”
And you know, that old doc was right.
Now my future’s looking bright.
Getting older? Getting fatter?
Getting deader, it doesn’t matter.
All of my life’s little spills
Are no match for these pretty pills.
Some are blue and some are yellow.
They keep me loose, they keep me mellow.
Can’t get hard enough to screw?
They got a pill for that one, too.
I can go at life full throttle:
Got my sunshine in a bottle.
But look out, boy, if I don’t take ‘em.
The crystal and china, I just might break ‘em.
Without my pills I’m not so pleasant.
‘Cause my temper’s incandescent.
You won’t like me when I’m like that:
I yell and scream and kick the cat.
So God bless all my pharmaceuticals
That give me peace and healthy cuticles.
I do not think it undo vanity
Just to want a little sanity.
And while at times it makes me shiver
To think about my poor old liver.
A rotted liver’s a tiny price
To pay so folks will think you’re nice.
It matters not how much I sin
On my face I wear a grin.
I can go at life full throttle:
Got my sunshine in a bottle
–Stephen P. Smith
Oh my god my virgin ears!!!!! Hey, I know of a great energy worker/healer chick you would absolutly lllllooooovvvveee! Golfgirl
Nah, I’d rather have the drugs. 8) Thanks for stopping by!
i just read your poem and still am mystified as to why you don’t do this as a
living. i really am in awe of your talent.
Aw, shucks, I’ll bet you say that to all the boys.
Loved the rhyme, the rhythm.
This poem made me chuckle
and today I needed that.
Thanks.
Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry. That’s my motto.
oh my GOD that was fantastic! and quite sing song-y. i read it out loud and it is just perfect!!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I am with Reg on this one, I started to hear a guitar as I read it, I absolutely love it! I am with Lil as well and agree, at this point I don’t care how long or short it took you to write this down, but I know some musicians would kill for lyrics like this.
Love it, love it, love it. As I said to KRK the other day, people don’t know how to write lyrics anymore, you do!
Wow, as always, you are too kind. Thank you taking the time to read my poetry. It means a great deal coming from you.
Has Walker read this?
~m
He should. He inspired it.
Great poetry, but I knew that you had it in you from some of the haikus that you have left me. Great job.
Thank you!
It’s too true to be funny. But it is very clever and whatever the word is for being able to come up with words that rhyme and phrases that flow.
It’s definitely true, and wasn’t necessarily meant to be funny. Sardonic, perhaps. There are thousands of anti-depressants out there (I know, I’ve been on most of them). For the most part, I’ve found my Happy Place in recent years, but it still kinda bothers me that I need chemicals to keep me there. But then, most writers are at least a little angst-ridden, I suppose.
hey so i know this is old but i came across it while googling things last night. Anyways, I can completely relate to finding a better life through chemicals. I read your poem, and I found myself nodding along and sighing about how accurate it was. I just wanted to let you know that I thought it was very beautifully written. It’s macabre, and dark, but it’s reality.
Thank you! Yes, it is indeed reality. A rather grim reality, but reality nonetheless.
You painted a vivid picture. It made me think of the movie Requiem for a Dream.
High praise, indeed. Luckily, I’m not quite to that point.
Anyways this comment is getting childish in it’s wording as I am tired and have spent what little ability I have to articulate things well and poetically writing for the past three hours. Just thought you should know that I appreciated it and thought it was good.
Nothing childish about your comment at all. I appreciate your kind words.
According to your other comments you have promise. I shall go see if there are other poems to read.
-Sarah
I hope you find other things there that you enjoy. Thanks for visiting!
F.Y.I:
Its an ‘unkindness of ravens’.
Or a ‘murder of crows’.
A murder of ravens is like saying a ‘herd of ants’ or a ‘swarm of cats’.
Yours truly
A Pedant.
Not necessarily. “murder of ravens” is also acceptable. Check out these sources:
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kennel/collectives.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_collective_nouns_for_birds
http://www.myuniversalfacts.com/2006/04/collective-nouns-for-birds-what-group.html
Bear in mind that these collective nouns are quite old, and used so infrequently that it’s inadvisable to adopt too rigid a stance here.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I’m sorry that this all you got out of it.
-sps