I am blessed
With maintaining
A semblance
Of that brokenness
Poetry needs

By our lives
Always robbed
Seeking promises
No God had sworn
They would make –

Trying so damn hard
Working daily
With tomorrow
Another gift
Coming

But for us
Such happiness
Swindled
And an emptiness
Sold as best bets,

When today
Can’t ever escape
Where each dream
Still look likes
This present

Now repeatedly lost
Making choices
Since pursuing
What most
Undermine

Through rebelling
Against every lie
That those doctors
Claimed
Was an illness

Or some school
Had said
Missed the meaning
If profit
Didn’t come first.

I’m glad
We can’t truly explain
How each loss
Can feel
More immortal,

Taking from pain
What is gorgeous
Yet turning
These fears
Into truth –

Another bad thief
Passing judgment
On misfortune
Real
Though enriching

To rise
Once more
Being victims
Never failures
Capturing verse.

• J. Pigno