I've Got Better Things to Do

Linda Allen



Why do I spend my life caught in this storm and strife

Picking up puzzles to fit into boxes

Papers and peanuts and soggy galoshes

I've got better things to do than to pick up after you



I could sail far away for a year and a day

In a boat of shimmering blue

To an island I know where the warm breezes blow

And I know just what I would do

I'd put up an umbrella on that glorious beach

Right next to the NO CHILDREN sign

And I'd read three whole books from beginning to end

And more, if I'd feel so inclined



Oh, why do I spend my life caught in this storm and strife

Picking up socks and a moldy old bear

Finding two months worth of old underwear

I've got better things to do than to pick up after you



I could give of my talents to challenge the makers

Of war -- I would march, I would sing

I would write twenty letters, or then, even better

I'd give all the generals a ring

And I'd talk to them nicely and ask them politely

To give up their nuclear toys

But if they won't say that they'll put them away

Well it's "time out" for those ornery boys



Oh, why do I spend my life caught in this storm and strife

Picking up things that I can't recognize

Covered with fungus and lazy fruit flies

I've got better things to do than to pick up after you



I could start up a workshop for mothers who've not stood up

Straight since the youngest was born

We'll do role-plays and cry, learn a mantra, and sigh

"Born to stand" -- to repeat, every morn

And then for the test we'll invite in a guest

To drop socks in a heap on the floor

Any woman who sweats and then trembles and heads

For the socks must repeat the whole course



Oh, why do I spend my life caught in this storm and strife

Screaming and bribing and pleading my lot

But will you pick up? No, you will not

I've got better things to do than to pick up after you



@feminist

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MC

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