A POEM - WITH THE IRON BLANKET DRAPED OVER MY BODY

WITH THE IRON BLANKET DRAPED OVER MY BODY
I filled up the bath tub,
Tip toed in.
With baths,
The water was always too hot or too cold.
There was no just right.
As I settled in,
Letting my body steep,
I figured I hadn’t taken a bath
In seven years.
I let the scalding water
Suffocate my tired body.
I’d begun exercising again,
Push-ups and sit-ups and so on,
But the tiredness was from more than that.
I was tired from everything,
Tired of it all.
Not only from travel,
Not from endless wild nights,
Not from endless nothing nights,
But everything.
Tired of breathing,
Tired of eating.
Sleeping just made me yawn.
So there in the bath tub,
Exhaustion hitting hard,
Like an iron blanket being draped over me.
I leaned back my head,
Stretched out my legs,
And said, “well, I’m fuckin’ beat.”