Thursday, May 22, 2026: Michael La Bombarda's "Social Adjustment"

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Michael La Bombarda is a poet and fiction writer who has six books of poetry for sale on Amazon and has most recently published in the Lothlorien Poetry Journal and Oddball Magazine. He is retired and lives in New York City.


SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT


I was a French-Italian kid

Who thought he was Haitian-Italian.

I was Haitian when my relatives

Were around and Italian-American

With my Italian friends, and

Haitian-Italian when a black uncle

Was around who was not my uncle.

That said, my friends were a good

Bunch of guys, but I would not pick

Them again, and I would try

Being more studious, I think.

It’s no wonder I took things to excess

And screwed up my life, but you can’t

Screw up your life without help from some

Other people who limit your choices.

Either deny myself and have a house,

A family, and a good-paying job,

Or try to create a life of books,

Thoughts, and writing these days.

It all seems clear on paper—

The choices I made and didn’t make,

But life is not all that understandable,

And not even a poem can change that,

Though I try with each poem I write.


© Michael La Bombarda

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