Issue
#1

January
2009

a poem by RD "Raindog" Armstrong

On the Margin

A loose mirror on the passenger side
A leaky seal
King-pins that need replacing
A failing wheel cylinder
A broken camera lens
Bad tubes
Dull blades
Unpaid debts
Broken dreams
No hot water in the bathroom
Stains on the sheets
Dirty smudges on the walls
A weed choked garden
A hair-choked drain
A few steps from insanity
A few more steps from a cardboard box
under a bridge
One step from an early grave
A strange hand in your pocket
A finger on the trigger
A pain in the ass
Blood in the toilet
A bald tire, a wet, oily street
The wrong time to turn over a new leaf
A broken rubber
A broken heart
An insensitive remark
A caution thrown to the wind
Boredom
Four walls closing in fast

It’s not the big issues that take you out
It’s the little moments that ambush you:
A broken pencil
Or your computer crashing with all your poetry
Erased

(revised from 1996 version)

© R.D. Armstrong

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