If anyone else is going through financial or career crises, take heart! Madison and I are making our way through a very rough patch at the moment. It's not the first time, though. This sonnet dates from October 2011, and was exactly the sort of “pick me up” I needed. It still is.
Oh, I’d love to figure out how to make ends meet. . .
They won’t even say “hi” when passing in the street!
Perhaps I can trick them, and spring a little trap.
They’ll go about as normal, and then you’ll hear a ‘snap!’
And there our two ends will be, and there they shall stay
‘til I go and pick them up. Then I’ll find a way
to bring them together and make their meeting stick
(without one or the other or me getting sick).
Maybe some glue, however, if it got too damp
I’d need something stronger, like a big, metal clamp.
I could bind them with fine Corinthian leather!
That’ll surely hold them in all sorts of weather.
However it’s accomplished, I’ll brook no defeat
in my quest to find the best way to make ends meet!
The recording is from 2020: https://aprillynnjames.com/track/4770842/economic-downturn-ode