The Payment Plan

/ Issue 10.3 /

……..You, too, will be officially enrolled
in what we’ve come to call the Payment Plan,
….and while it’s true this isn’t optional,
our policyholders will, we think, attest

……..that parity is what we’re aiming for.
The plan is quite unique in that you pay
….in the universal currency of pain.
Our actuaries first consult the charts

……..and calculate, for someone of your age,
the ratio of grief to be applied
….based on tribulation indices,
and then a consultation is arranged.

……..One of us will come and sit with you
to individualize a strategy
….that fits what we believe you can endure.
We have a range of policies we think

……..are competitive in the marketplace of woe.
Despite our best advice, some people ask
….about the Harvard Plan. This plan ensures
that all affliction comes immediately

……..and overwhelmingly to guarantee
that you’ll go into shock and soon forget
….your password and your mother’s maiden name.
A DNR’s included in this plan,

……..and you can choose ahead who pulls the plug.
But this is probably not the one for you.
….We understand you have a narrative
that helps impart some meaning to your life.

……..Well, who would ever think it otherwise?
We’re open to most every point of view
….and can contextualize, on a sliding scale,
the water board, the billhook and the drill.

……..Installments every month are preferable.
We urge you to avoid delinquency
….and hope you know that interest will accrue,
as per the plan, on unpaid balances.

John Foy

John Foy

John Foy’s third book of poems, No One Leaves the World Unhurt, won the 2020 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and was published in 2021 by Autumn House Press. His second book, Night Vision, won the New Criterion Poetry Prize and was published by St. Augustine’s Press in 2016. It was also a finalist for the 2018 Poets’ Prize. His poems have been included in the Swallow Anthology of New American Poets, The Raintown Review Anthology, and Rabbit Ears, an anthology of poems about TV, and they have appeared widely in journals and online. He lives and works in New York.
John Foy

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Author: John Foy

John Foy’s third book of poems, No One Leaves the World Unhurt, won the 2020 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and was published in 2021 by Autumn House Press. His second book, Night Vision, won the New Criterion Poetry Prize and was published by St. Augustine’s Press in 2016. It was also a finalist for the 2018 Poets’ Prize. His poems have been included in the Swallow Anthology of New American Poets, The Raintown Review Anthology, and Rabbit Ears, an anthology of poems about TV, and they have appeared widely in journals and online. He lives and works in New York.