June 1, 2021

a short list of things that need releasing

That sweater whose wearings disappoint, no matter the season. The looseness 
in one place and tightness in another. What is it, exactly, that keeps you feeding 
at the empty trough? This, too: the hair a local stylist snips as you sit, pinned & becaped, 
helpless as your mirror twin turns against you. Whatever. It will grow back; next time 
you’ll be clearer in your instructions. Isn’t this the invitation of error? And the story 
about where things went haywire, grooved in the loop of your telling. 
There are curtains of evidence at the fringes, waving at you, whispering the lines 
of the part you played. Go ahead. Pull the mask away. Say “I was flinging myself against 
a brick wall, thinking I could knock it down.” Look at the clouds, after, taking the shape 
of optimism. In the morning the coffee will taste so good going down, almost like honey.