Our Dues

What a strange ritual April 15 is. I’m guessing that for most of us, paying taxes and all that entails is our most intimate interaction with our government. Some years, I swear I get the taxes done expeditiously. Not this year. And as tax years go, this one’s a little harrowing. My mind rests easier, though, knowing that I’m paying my tax dues to pay for plenty of this instead of dead-end ideas like this.

Technorati Tags:

Tax Day

Well, it’s here. And for once, I can say — not as complaint, just as an observation of the bottom line — I’m really getting murdered. Where is all that dough going? Don’t want to delve into it at this late hour.

I will commend today’s Writer’s Almanac, though: It’s got a nice short history of taxes, introduced by a lovely and appropriate poem about depression, which starts:

“When in a deep depression of the self,

I see on every side, on every hill,

like the lit mansions of the rich, success

of others, hear the echoes loudly praise

my rivals, feel my plodding soles sink deeper

in the cold ashes of hope, and feel

the tepid drizzle of self-pity stain

my cheeks …”