New poem: "The Man With a Bad Back"

 

The Man With a Bad Back

 

He hurt his back trucking years ago,

and it has never healed, and now at fifty

he can’t work, can hardly walk some days,

and is having trouble with the WCB

(Workers’ Compensation Board) who

found a reason to cut off his monthly

cheque, and he has to retain a lawyer to

fight his case, which gives him new cause

for anger. But if it wasn’t this, it would

be something else, because he’s always

angry at the world. I couldn’t understand

why his life was such a mess; but one day

over coffee (he smoked non-stop), it came

 to me why nothing seemed to go his way,

and it has to do with the way he thinks. The

more I tried to reason with him, the more

unproductive it seemed to be, because he

argued to discredit, not to discover. It didn’t

matter what subject we discussed, he always

found something bad to say; but when his

eyes lit up with glee when he twisted the

argument to go his way, it hit me that his life

was a mess not because he had bad luck

or a bad back, but because he reasoned

in bad faith and karmically attracted

all the bad that came his way.

 

Composed in Nipigon, Ontario

Date unknown:1990-2000