i have this dramatic anxiety
that i need to rush to get my taxes filed
months before they’re due,
like it’s some sort of exam,
and the longer i wait, the more likely i’m to get a
failing grade, aka an audit for my shenanigans
it’s best to tell people you’re poet to explain why you’re bank account
has so many zeros in it,
rather than tell them you’re a full-time, fiat-mining machine that works on autopilot
contributing minimum to zilch to an imaginary 401(k)
while listening to floating talking heads of the television that say buy,buy,buy,buy
into the reams of madness stacked high and overflowing from the binder
of some poor fellow’s portfolio that nets him millions, maybe billions,
once you account for inflation,
deep breath,
and deflation,
just don’t forget that being a poet is a tax write-off,
or at least that’s what my tax attorney that lives under the bridge told me
Fred Aiken Writing 