Follows The Sun

much more like the March I know
sudden sleet and dreary skies

light lingering dimly in the clouds

I spend a lot of time looking
for the perfect sandal

thickeningness
is the way my brain chooses
to describe the look of trees and woods
from a distance in the month of March

it is caused by the buds
that will become leaves
but now are just brown protrusions
on every twig and branch

speaking very, very quiet
promises

***

two roads diverged
in a yellow door

it was a very interesting door

when the timer goes
the yams will be mostly roasted
and need only a little more roasting
before they are done

countless occurrences will occur
between now and when the timer goes
and the yams are mostly done

little leaf movements and big jet movements
and sighs and shots and cigarettes
and the breeze outside my window
which I closed an hour ago

today discussed
the relative safety
of getting lost in a book
and dissociating

kind of like dissociating
but in a good way, I am told
but then again, I am reminded
there can be too much of a good thing

sometimes you need to deal
with the real world
– or something

later
I am reflecting on how fine
such a conversation is

promised myself i would really notice today
did not notice today, really

library, office, nail salon, car

the sky was … sky
the air was … present

tomorrow though, i hear it will be warm

***

the arresting sound
proved to be a starling, starlings
on the telephone lines and under the eaves
in the bushes, too
by the warbling

i tried to count and could not
and the next small thing
pulled me on my way

I think the day was warmish
and also pretty sunny-ish
but to be honest, I hardly noticed
and let me tell ya, it’s killin’ me

My newest jade plant has taken a beating over its several years of life.
Once, a squirrel came in through a hole in the screen
and ate pieces out of its leaves.

That was two years ago, or three.
Just in the past few weeks I’ve noticed
in a scar on one of them
a bit out out from where it meets the stem,
four tiny new leaves have appeared.

Dusky red beneath and deep green on top,
they look like tiny agates.

I know this is how jades rebuild themselves
but sprouting from a leaf that’s still growing
they feel surprising and new.
I look at them a lot.

every day this week, almost
a girl brought me a poem about march
and every one alluded to flowers
and spring
and part of me said, nice try
and part of me said, hooray
I said thank you for the poems
and I told her they were great

***

At market this morning
I didn’t buy pussy willows
or a pot of daffodils

I kept wondering why
and suspected myself
of reveling in gloom and winter
and nothing-getting-better-ness
or maybe nothing-getting-better-yet-ness

which is a bit more hopeful

I finally determined to
get the pussy willows
but they were gone

so I got nothing at all
for brightening up the house

until this evening when
I bought a yellow begonia
and it was a piece of
loving-gratefulness

some things better
than expected, some things worse
tomorrow’s friday

what do you make of a day
that gets colder and colder as it goes along
or a person that says they’ve been lost
since they stopped coming in to talk to you
but they still can’t come
for family reasons

what do you make of anything, really?
the best you can