The Problem – Read Poems aka Dinosaurs

ABOUT THE POEM: “The Problem” cuts through anxieties about death and illness to identify the core existential crisis: the inability to truly live and love. The poem lists the mundane and systemic barriers—lack of money, time, and family opposition—that have prevented genuine connection, leaving the narrator plagued by procrastination and a traffic jam of unfortunate circumstances. It expresses a bitter frustration that those who trade their bodies for profit understand the value of money, but remain ignorant of their own, or the narrator's, inherent worth.

The problem isn’t when I’ll die-
it’s when I’ll truly live.
I’ve never had a girlfriend,
never had the time, never had the money;
sometimes a hooker turned me down,
sometimes my family flat-out forbade it.
So, fuck it all-the real question is:
When will I get to love someone,
and when will love finally come to me?
Tomorrow I’ll have AIDS or cancer,
today a hangover and procrastination plague me,
but life slips away piece by piece,
and I’m just standing in line to deceive.
When will the universe get out of my way,
so I can ignore bad luck and become popular?
These daughters of the poor-who don’t even know
if they should wipe the nose first or the butt-
I’m stuck in this traffic jam of circumstances.
Those who sell themselves for a couple of coins
teach me the value of money,
but they never learn their own worth in this world… or mine.