some people wake up on Monday mornings
barring maelstroms and red flare warnings
with no explosions and no surprises
perform a series of exercises

hold your fire
take your place around an open fire

before your neurons declare a crisis
before your trace Serotonin rises
before you’re reading your coffee grounds
and before a pundit can make a sound
and before you’re reading your list of vices
perform the simplest exercises

so here at the end
the war is over
there’s nothing left to defend
no cliffs of Dover
so let us put down our pens
and this concludes our test
our minds are scattered about
from [bad word] to breakfast

hold your fire
take your place around an open fire
don’t open fire