Fred Aiken Writing

ai taught me to fight

i will never tell my wife this,
but i sometimes
use ai to run through some of our fights
so i can better understand why she gets mad at me,
and also to see if there's a pattern that
i'm not seeing,
like if most of our fights starts on a thursday,
or perhaps if there's a particular time that she is more prone to get angry with me,
i suppose there's an easier way to deal
with our marital spouts,

i could just listen,
but the ai sounds so much smarter
and understands me when i tell it my problems
that i want resolved

back troubles

my back hurts,
i think i pulled something,
please don’t touch me,
it’s not funny, i tell my teenage niece,
just go get the ice pack,
so i can sneak a quick prescription-grade tylenol
along with my gin and tonic,
while no one watches

summer ice cream//days

the streets are blaring hot,
don’t ask the weatherman
to cool the place down,
cause they’ll just tell ya
it’s a hot one, and then keep going about their day,
but i suppose i can’t really blame them,
sometimes it’s best to get an ice-
cream cone and shut up