Brick Pillow

by Joplin Rice

you’re gonna get a
brick pillow
go to college
can’t get a job
that’s ok
you’ll just wake up
on a
concrete bed
in somebody’s doorway
feeding on the heat that
seeps through the cracks
closing your eyes
on a
brick pillow
damp wind blanket
over a musty
concrete bed

stay alone or
get a woman
who makes good
money money money
and buy the
soft feathery stuff
hand-embroidered finery

but one day
you’ll say
I remember back when
I got a
brick pillow

and I never slept
so well
in my life