Con

'Are you there? Say a prayer for the pretender
who started out so young and strong only to surrender.'
- The Pretender, Jackson Browne


My brain is like mush
and the harder I push
there’s more of it spattering out
so I sit on my tush
and with a great whoosh
expel this malingering doubt—
it’s bound to come back
for life has a knack
of mocking us thoroughly when
we’re on the right track
but then double back
to the comforting call of our pen.