You Gotta Fill Out A Form First Poem by Vera Sidhwa

Medicare, MediCal, Social Security and Disability,
We live paper, we live computer, we live checks.
A walk in the woods forgone. To many bills to pay,
Did I hear a bird chirp? Heard screeches on the freeway.

You gotta fill out a form first.

Licking envelopes. Been many months since I swam in the Ocean.
Twirling pencils and racing pens on paper but never standing
At the edge of a forest.

Swift strokes on my keyboard but never saw the tri-colored
Butterfly flutter in the blue.

Sliding objects on scanners, right after the beautiful wind blew
Around the truths of nature.
And the truth about us.

We gotta fill out a form first.