Helen "HP" Rivers

how you never see your friends anymore
and even if you did,
not like there’s much to do
not much you can afford,
not much you have time for but
working and sleeping
working your other job
taking care of you pets
taking care of your home
taking care of your kids
taking care of your parents
taking care of the world,
which is on fire, by the way,
so it’s always too hot
or too stormy to go outside,
not that you actually want to,
because if rent is going to be
at minimum $50 a day,
you may as well get
your money’s worth –
not that any of it matters,
your friends are also too tired
from just getting by to do
much more than text
as another month passes, and
you hate how you’re secretly
glad because you also
exhausted –

it’s not a coincidence.

if we’re all too exhausted
to remember the last time
we enjoyed being alive,
we’re also too run-down to
remember we deserve more,
and way too busy to
do anything about it.