i ain’t complaining and i ain’t crying the blues

looking back

when I had my youth

I gave my days and nights

to work on an assembly line

working 10 hour days

at a truck factory in Louisville

 

 

all the time

wanting to be a writer

and live off the poems

 

in my spare time

I wrote and wrote

for years

 

then I realized my dream

of writing was only going

to be a dream, nothing more

 

I still had enough energy

to go to college

it took me twice as long

and I found work I loved

 

I gladly worked two jobs

to catch up on bills

 

it’s strange how time slips by slowly

now the wind is blowing

a different direction

employers love the energy

of youth

I have discovered one thing

(at least for me)

 experience is not

all that important anymore anymore —

no one wants my years of experience

they want students out of college without

experience so they pay less

(Oh my, the mistakes I could help

them avoid, if only I was hired as

their director). 

New therapists can do more harm than good

if they do not have experience in their field.

 

I’ve stopped looking

for work I love, you see . . .

my youth has faded

 

youth

where did you go?

 

now don’t read me wrong

I ain’t complaining

and I ain’t crying the blues

I am just

thinking things through