Honky-Tonk Sonnet
Before cancer, I was a country.
Now—, I’m a fucking country
Song: job gone, house gone,
Wife diagnosed w/ Post-Traumatic Stress—
I’m missing more organs
Than a looted church.
Even my dog’s been repossessed!
Know what I got left?
2 years. The lifespan
Of an average rat. My wife’s therapist
Tells me I can use this time to find
Out who I really am. Lord help me Jesus,
I’ve wasted it, so/help me Jesus,
I know what I am: squeak.
_______________
Jay Hopler
Still Life
McSweeney's, 2022