My Ego Is Not Thrilled

by Franco Bertucci

I want more money.
Actually, I do not want more money.
I want to not feel ashamed for making less money
than is appropriate for my age and abilities,
according to a completely unscientific comparison
my ego makes between myself
and the guy one teller over at the bank.

Ten years ago I would have been thrilled
to be making a deposit this large.
But I would not have been thrilled
to know that in ten years
I would be making a deposit this small.

My ego would not have been thrilled.
But my ego did not know how much time
I was going to need to spend writing poetry
and being biblically productive.

My ego did not know how happy I would be.
But now it thinks: happier than the guy one teller over.
And, my ego thinks this poem might make me a million dollars.

Awkward Guy

Poems and other embarassing things. 2011 Franco Bertucci