37. . . CoverKeli Danice

Out in the Ocean

I feel like a sinking ship

Full of nothing but burdens and memories

No matter how much I try to stay afloat

I keep on sinking

Birds are no longer chirping

But screaming at me

You. Damn. Dummy

In high sopranos and low tenures

Screaming vulgarities

Not a parrot asking, “Does Polly want a cracker?”

But hawks and falcons ready to devour my soul

While heading up a stream of misery

I’m broke

To put it in laymen’s terms

The faint sound of the word is enough to make my skin crawl

The mention of a debt collector makes my stomach do somersaults

I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul

Or if you want to get technical

Robbing Dawson at Kaufmann’s

And avoiding Donna from T-Mobile

I’m a causality of this money war

And I’m losing that battle to keep my head above water

While sinking on the ship

Submerging in the ocean’s current called debt

I see these birds flying over my head

These f***ing vultures

Better known as Coco from NCO

Or Julisa from Visa

And they’re snapping at me

Thinking

I gave up like these holes in my pockets

This by the way is letting all this damn water in

I’m drowning in a sea of debt

The waters rising slightly above my neck

Excuse me

But where is my relief?

My help?

My Nemesis

The ones that are supposed to solve my money mysteries

I’m trapped

This is my natural catastrophe

My levees have broken

And I am broke

If someone was to rescue me

I can’t describe the hell that I am in

No landmarks

No flares

I’m just in the middle of this f***ing ocean

I’m drowning

I can’t swim

And these birds are circling around my head again

Should I allow them to eat me alive?

Dig their dirty-ass claws in my empty pockets to scrape up some change

to pay interests that I know their insurance will cover

That’s it

I’ll cover my head so these birds won’t see me

And just start swimming

Of course there’s one problem

I can’t swim

So it seems there is no getting away from them

Anna at MasterCard

Keli from National City

Simone from student loans

Alexis from Express

Kim from the gym

Jack from Saks

Last but not least my mom

The rent is due

To tell you the truth

They can all pull the money from the crack of my ass

Everybody

Because at the end of the day

Even the settlement is too much to pay

They need to stop wasting these tree leaves

Sending me notices of termination

Or

“If this delinquency is not cured

38

We will be knocking down your f***ing door!”

And proceed with other collection efforts

Try to bait me as much as you wish

Despite how I look, I am not a fish

So in case you haven’t noticed

I’m still in the middle of this damn ocean

I’m still a casualty of this money war

These vultures are still circling above my head

The water is still rising just above my neck

And I am still drowning in this ocean called debt