“It’s a hard thing to leave any deeply routine life, even if you hate it.”
–John Steinbeck
as I wait on the slow drip
of the coffee in the urn
each morning lest I forget
I slip one finger inside
each bottle one by one
as if searching for a hold
along a cliff’s edge
so I can maintain my grip
on the day to day trivia
I follow this routine
one pill for cholesterol
one baby aspirin because
the stroke ten years ago
one for allergies
yet still I can’t breathe
and one because I tend
to come upon parts
of my life as they end
like growing up
I suddenly was
and I remember
I forgot somewhere
like a book I left
unfinished on a train
how to be happy
(July 3, 2015)
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