(Spring 2023 S. Gordden Link Poetry Contest Winner)

i sometimes wonder – why
the earth does spin as i did
when i was a young girl on the merry-go-round. it
baffles me, how it can take
its sweet time when i want to get off, yet when all
i want is to slow down and watch the day,
it goes by a mile a minute. and to
think, to feel, how i get
from my day’s work nothing,
not so much a “great job” for all I have accomplished.

but i can’t help but ask why –
if all i do is work and work and work, why i
do not have what i could
have. what i want to have.
what i should have. it all started
when i turned the page at
the ripe age of sixteen, when it was noon
&
all i could think was “damn, i work tonight.” i saved
myself a snack for later, a
later that never came because why save for later what you can have now? and yeah i know, a lot
of the time was spent wondering. pondering on the question of
why, earth? why spin me by, like i did back in my time?