The Next Poem About The Fall of 2005

September 9, 2005
Things I noticed yesterday and this morning

It’s actually not so much the rubbing of the washcloth
on my eyelids
as its scratchy surface on my cheeks and forehead
that wakes me up in the morning
So I stand corrected

One of my favorite things about split pea soup on Thursdays
is the crackers
how they go all soft in the soup
their gloppy pabulum forming a delicious textural contrast
to the toothy resistance of the tiny salty ham cubes

All the flowers in the house are now dying or dead
and the glow has gone right out of the dahlias
But we have a bowl of tomatoes and fruit on the dining table
quite luminous in their own way
though more opaque

The light faded right out of the room as I sat
on the hard plastic chair last night
in the living room talking on the phone with mama
you can just sit there and watch night fall like water going down the drain
pretty neat

This morning two tough-looking men
all muscles and jackets
were walking two small fluffy cartoon-cute dogs
out on the sidewalk as I went to work
It was funny

There’s a certain geometric precision to the way
the broom moves when people sweep the sidewalks
a smooth lever-like angular motion of the handle
(dare I say a sweeping motion?)
which once seen is hard to unsee

I admired the square red leather backpack
against the white wool coat
of a woman with cropped blonde hair holding onto a little girl’s hand and hurrying along
And the turquoise ankle boots of an art student

And at Powell there was a man hauling his two kids up
onto the cable car in what looked
like a daily routine
though it only had another four blocks to go
down the hill

image source is here