The Angry World: Another Fall on Long Island

Each glorious sunrise

brings another ignoble defeat

Bulging out of my clothes like a hernia

My yellow belly guts put on display

The check engine light devil

summoned up onto my dusty dashboard

Imitating an alien blip on an old arcade game

My dreams strangled by two villains

Insidious duo of procrastination and excuses

News comes down of another high school buddy

Dead

Necrotic liver or a shotgun blast

Suicide by responsibility

His ugly wife and rotten kids

toss soil on his dirtbag soul

Success never had the time for me

Even the ex-wife would cook me dinner

After she polished off her soap operas and cheap vodka

The sonic boom of my blazing fastball

thunder crack of the mighty wooden bat

downgraded like an ancient computer

to slow pitch softball

and cheap lies about my imaginary baseball triumphs