There are some days when more strength is needed than others


and today is one of those days.

 

I do not know

why it happens but sometimes I awaken

and feel that Hell

is at the cusp of my bed,

 

And if I step too hastily I shall fall

for millions of miles

into the mouth of the nether-gods.

 

So I tiptoe around it.

I stand and I stretch

as though I have the limbs of a giant.

 

Yes, of a giant—but I shall need those limbs

today, because today is one of those days.

 

I forgo the oatmeal

and drink dragon’s blood instead,

 

“Yes, there it is,” I say, taking it from the cupboard,

in the canister behind the herbs

labeled The Blood of Dragons.

 

I tread lightly to the basin

and brush my teeth with Caligula’s ash.

 

I shower in the spittle

of an ancient deity (though choosing

one is always the difficult part).

 

I go to my closet and open the heavy doors hewn

from blackened wood and choose my armor.

 

For I must wear something that withstands

the fire of negativity;

the sharpness of stupid tongues;

the putrid mind; the living World.

 

I flank myself in an armor stitched

with Medusa’s hair,

 

and my helmet, usually made of wool or felt, is

now made from the bone

of Pegasus’s skull.

 

I go to my looking glass

 

and behold the wonder I have made

of myself.

 

I forgive the spectacle

of it all,

“Because I shall need it much,” I say.

 

I decide to forgo my vitamins

and down a handful of fingernails

pulled from the hand of Richard III.

 

This dissolves well, I find,

with a shot of Shakespeare’s bile.

 

Yes, I think, now I am ready

to face the day!

 

But before I pass over the threshold,

I stop and do the sign of the cross

thinking it can’t hurt. After all,

I shall need it much today.

 

Gabriel “G” Garcia

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