Limited Time

by Kerin Pollack 

With limited time:

500 days.

12,000 hours.

720,000 minutes.

43,200,000 seconds.

There are not enough moments left

and I’m not the man I think I am.

Roll Up! Roll Up!

Like the dustbowl carnivals of old.

Come, see my soul.

grotesque and caged,

a freak show attraction.

Roll Up! Roll Up

to side who alley!

Come, throw rings

around my dreams

and win a prize.

Behind the canvas

of an exhibition marquee

lit up in a paddock

a revivalist preacher

rolls a cigarette

and drinks from a bottle

needing liquid courage

to preach my thoughts.

With limited time:

500 days.

12,000 hours.

720,000 minutes.

43,200,000 seconds.

There are not enough moments left

in which I can undo a lifetime of habit.

written in response to exercise two