off the game

janice woke up off the game

there was no other way of looking at it

one second she was an upstanding citizen &

a productive member of society,

passing every day in the hospital doing her

doctor thing,

after years of grueling medical school &

years of residency,

she spent her time helping others,

she was one of those people whom other put their

hopes in &

she was a good little wife

loyal to her husband regardless of what he did &

she made dinner despite being on call at the hospital

she still found time to get to the gym

she still found time to be all that she could

in developing an early young couple’s life---

she was a good daughter,

even though she always had to listen to her mother say

that she thought she’d have grandchildren by now &

though janice always called,

her mother never ceased to ask if she was gaining weight---

she loved her father, even though he lived in a different state,

so she made the calls to him as well &

visited at least once a year,

giving hugs to his new main squeeze,

commenting favorably on his new life &

new accomplishments---

stockpiling her funds to move from the apartment to the

house,

reading those books that are supposed to help with child rearing &

hinting to the husband every now & then

about when will be a good time to start,

as her clock, she says, is always ticking---

one of her college roommates introduced her to the music of

tom waits years before &

when she fell in love with the man’s unique blend of melancholia +

insanity,

she memorized the words of “Frank’s Wild Years,”

and these were what she recited while she

filled her husband’s head with nails

freshly shot from the Hitachi NT50AE2 18-Gauge that she

bought---after doing so,

she gave up medical school, helping people in general &

being a good little girl.