While my husband’s in the kitchen cooking dinner
I’m calculating how many grams of rice I’ll eat
Budgeting the results of his care
Fretting over the mass I could be feeding
…
I don’t really know you,
various sirs, madams, and others…
Thinking of others who have far less
Who have met with the heaviest misfortunes
Who do not have my reinforced net…
I left my shoes behind when my feet got stuck in the asphalt
I had to leave them behind when I walked right into this mess that I didn’t see
Hoping to wake refreshed
I am instead the tiny amorphous remains of a candle
That slowly burnt itself to a quiet death in the night.
I hope he dies and she goes on to live the most amazing and fulfilling life.
Clear tides are hiding nothing tonight
Swirling about my feet
Rising past my ankles
Then tickling my knees
Slowly
…
I’m supposed to go home
But it’s so much work
It’s so far upstream
And I’m already so tired
…
A little more time
A pause
Life on hold
Pause, pause, pause
Many breaths
With enough breaths
A day has passed
And death is once again
As it should be
Reviled
September 1 – 4, 2025
Often, we just need to wait it out.
Faraway moon shines
across so many borders
on your eyes and mine
Lee under shadows:
boughs conceal the worst of her
under these cedars