This Week's Installment in the Poem Series About Fall 2005

September 22, 2005
Last night I ran a bath

poured some green bath salts in there
that I don’t often use
(rosemary and lime though the scent is subtle)
and walked away while it was filling
When I came back
I had a tub full of pale green water
Presumably the same thing happened when I used these salts before
but it’s been a while
and I don’t remember ever thinking
how nice it is to slide
into a tub of pale green hot water
Just the idea of that color on your skin is soothing
leaving aside the smell
and whatever restorative properties the salt is meant to impart

And then there’s the sand
In a book I read a while ago
Annie Dillard was talking about how there’s apparently sand all over the place
in the cracks of city sidewalks for instance
It blows through the air
and lands there
and everywhere
This is the newest sand she said
not long out of river beds and often sharp enough to cut you
Well
I remember thinking
so she says but I’ve never seen it
But
of course
I should have known
it’s there
In recent weeks I’ve been noticing it every day
Not just in the sidewalk cracks but in the gutters too
Not huge amounts
but enough for me to see without my glasses
So this new sand
which indeed looks gritty and sharp and sometimes a little bit sparkly
has been there all along
but I would never have noticed it surely
if no one had pointed it out
would never have seen it in my lifetime
And now
not surprisingly
I can’t stop seeing it
Loath though I am to draw the obvious conclusion from this
you really can’t avoid it
Namely
what else have I been missing?

image source is here