"The Emergency" Inspired by Dust:

The Emergency

Accounts dwindle:

$956

$633

$492

$217

Water drains:

100 gallons

89

74

47

Pantry depletes:

pasta with meat sauce and canned corn

pasta with meat sauce

pasta with sauce

sauce alone

Even so,

I tell myself I’m okay.

I tell myself this is normal.

I tell myself tomorrow:

everything will start getting better

tomorrow.

But all I had saved for

an emergency

won’t last much longer.

Eventually,

I have to admit to myself:

the emergency is living.