some days you feel like a skinned fish

for our hot water heater
a tankless system went kaput
it was only a few years old such state of the art
so in the meantime it is very short cold
showers -- hop in hop out - real quick

which wouldn't be so bad but man
there are days when you feel like
a skinned fish nerves and shit all exposed
or maybe more like that story in
belfast poet ciaran carson's prose
work the star factory where old pious
farmer seamus can't get a break

so one night he implores [i'm paraphrasing],

oh lord, i am a simple soul
with little need or want
i pray to you nightly & everyday
go to church on sunday
work hard my land
but my wife left me
my children never visit
& my potato fields
every year yield little
why lord, why do i not
get a break

then there was a crack of lightening
and whiff of ozone
a giant finger came down from the heavens
and pinned seamus to his wall
and a loud voice cried out

CUZ I FUCKING HATE YA!

and that was all