October 4, 2022

an accounting
Yom Kippur, 2022

Wait for the tide to go out. Eat a bowl of ramen soup, simmered with slices of 
bok choy and thin wheels of carrots. Watch the cat scamper across the yard, 
chasing a variety of moving things—a dragonfly, a falling leaf. Notice how quiet
the street is in the middle of the day. Remove from your back pocket the list you made
on an index card last week, naming the dozen old stories still making a lumpen weight,
like barnacles, in certain chambers of your heart. Imagine the space you might give up,
letting them go. Take another forkful of noodles. Let the broth splatter slightly 
on the table, like drops of summer rain. Close your eyes to the salt, the slight twang
of ginger, the feeling of equipoise, your mouth deciding which way to lean. Remember
there is always time to forgive yourself. You can begin even here. You can begin even now.