[Prompt] - Salvage

Prompt: "A poem about a therapist, walking home from work and thinking about his or her day." - Michael Patrick Oakley

Salvage

Sometimes

I wish I kept track

On a little scoresheet

Wins v. Losses

Like a sociopath would do

Just so I could see how much higher

The former

And just how few

The latter

You can only do your best

And who can blame you?

Don't worry, I'll handle that

Because someone else's best

Is better

Or could be better, right?

Tell me about my childhood

Fascinating

Human worries, human thoughts

My diagnosis is clear

I'm a person, it seems

And there's not a Goddamn thing

I can do to change that

But be the kind of person

Someone needs

When they can't take it anymore

When they're crashing

Trapped in the fuselage of their downed life

And sometimes I get them out

And sometimes I don't

And sometimes I don't

But sometimes

Sometimes when they're pinned

Beneath a hundred tons of smoking wreckage

And their body doesn't work any more

And their lungs are filled with the smoke

Of immolating hope

I get them out.