Negative Numbers

I doubt they make the
best of companions with their
infinite pessimism
and I wouldn't seek their counsel
on something essential like
whether to request
a raise or when needing

directions. I mean, it's
just not in their nature
to be constructive, to care
for the tangible, to consider
anything of substance worthy
of being counted. But hell,
who can really blame them

for their backward point of view,
how they'll never come to see
the positive side of things,
when living with the burden
of a minus symbol aiming
directly at their hearts
like a rifle, forever?

Certainly not me
on this cold Monday morning,
staring down the barrel
of a six-shooter workweek
and calculating my desire
to get out of this bed to be
less than zero.