experience

While sitting in the temp agency
reviewing my resume with a girl 15 years my junior, she asks,
what other experience do you have?

I thought for a moment for the perfect reply.

Of course, I couldn't tell her about packing up my car with 600 bucks and driving alone across the country in December,

selling the car to get a place to crash,
living in the ghetto with drunks,
crack heads,
cockroaches,
and feral cats. Four years, a few a*****e men, and seven jobs later, I'm back to square one

but still alive.

I can't tell her how I fought my way out of depression,
delusion,
anxiety,
abuse,
religion,
propaganda, but not yet poverty.

I reply,

I've done my own accounting for the last several years. I'm good with numbers.

Reviews

[SleeplessVolcano]

Inspired writing! The climax of the poem was spot on.......but you know what? Sometimes we do not always see how our detours in life prepare us for what lies ahead.......our dark days made us stronger, and as we find our feet again, we can find solace in being alive. Those with only "smooth" life experiences, and shining resumes struggle to relate to this, and when their lives cave in, it is the end of their world. When our lives cave in, we regroup, dust off our reserve tanks of "never-give-up" gas and try again. Thanks for sharing this! :)

[Emily]

True that!

[Sheila Kline]

It's the kind of experience you write of that yells "life". Far too many in their posh offices, and places of prestige have no idea of how difficult it is for some to just survive.
I like your style -it's to the point, filled with truth of the ways of one who is a survivor!