Two Sides of Poetry

Pants *

There are five minutes before I must leave

Five minutes to find my pants

Five minutes to get up off the floor

Five minutes to put them on

Five minutes to put on my shoes

Five minutes to do it all

Five minutes it takes to do them each

Twenty minutes I need

Ten more for a buffer

Thirty minutes I would need

Thirty minutes and I would be late

So what do I do?

Lying here on the floor

Face down and comfortable

For one minute I lay

Contemplating what to do

My cheek to the cold floor

I think and think

What is there to do when you only have five minutes?

Five minutes I contemplate

Lying stomach down on the floor

Five minutes pass and I still have yet to find my pants

Five minutes and I have yet to get up

Five minutes and I have yet to put my pants on

Five minutes and I have yet to put my shoes on

Five minutes has past and I have no pants

One pair of pants of dozens

One pair my size and eleven not

One pair bigger than the rest and those are the ones missing

Too late I think

Lying on the floor

I decide to sleep

No more time and contemplating has exhausted me

I sleep face down

I miss my class

Two hours later I'm awaken

My roommate Janelle

"What are you doing sleeping on the floor?"

I mumble words I don't even know what I'm saying

"Where are you pants?"

I forgot I don't have pants

I need to buy pants

But I don't have pants to go and buy pants

"I don't know."

I flip to my front and stare up at her.

"Help me please?"

She pulls and pulls

But my weight is too much for her

She struggles and sweats

And finally

She gives up

I'm lost on the floor

My pants are lost

All of my time is lost

Lost in my fat

If I wasn't so fat

Maybe I'd have pants

Maybe I'd be able to get up

Maybe those five minutes wouldn't have passed

With me lying on the floor

With no pants