from the GoodReads June newsletter

[edwardina]

Carpe, Carpe

I'm sawing off the limb I'm on.
A cartoon in a three-D scene,
I'm on this branch until it's gone,

Like men who dam where salmon spawn
To keep a desert golf course green.
They're sawing off the limb they're on,

As I've shirked sleep, as if élan
Were made of rye and nicotine.
I'm on this branch until it's gone,

But poison weeds and feed the lawn
And hope my drinking water's clean,
Still sawing off the limb I'm on,

And sprinting in a marathon
Whose finish line is still unseen.
I'm on that branch until it's gone.

Why work when there are rings to pawn?
We'll live off fat, and then on lean.
I'm sawing off the limb I'm on.
I'm on this branch until it's gone.

-- by J.D. Smith