December 10, 2019

the avocados astonished her with ripeness

She was always checking the forecast, her pulse, the bottoms of her shoes,
the general mood in the room. She was always wondering if something was about 
to break, if trouble was coming, if the driver behind her was paying attention.
Sometimes it felt like life was a series of rear-view mirrors to fix an eye on,
a perennial list to cross off, a credit card bill to repeatedly pay the balance against.
Certain hopes had stopped materializing. She walked through the doors of her day
shielding herself against the bright lights, reaching into the bins in automatous agitation,
absenting from the kind of joy she would, as a child, have insisted on, fought for.
Imagine, then, the yield of the skin that met her this aberrant afternoon. Picture her face
remembering the give of pleasure. How a whole world can fall apart and be so beautiful.