October 5, 2021
five acts of protest
1. It is too late in the season for the tomato vines to bear fruit. Nevertheless,
a bloom has appeared the color of a kindergarten sun.
2. Potato chips, eaten in a moving car, napkinless.
3. A coupon will arrive in the mail and it will appear glossy with promise, or a celebrity
you admire will begin a new skin care routine that leaves them ebullient with youth
and you will want that same glow bestowed on your tired face. Instead, make applesauce.
Write a chirpy Post-it note to your neighbor. Scotch tape it on a Mason jar you’ve filled
to the brim. Deliver it, unannounced, to their doorstep.
4. Stillness. No, really. Stop moving for One. Whole. Minute.
5. Grief and its surrender. Joy and its surrender. Any act and its surrender.