Something to Save Your Life

 

Dear Anna,

The urgent and off-key blackbird
has something to say and it echoes
off the Ross Dress for Less faux
stucco. The buk-buk of locking your car
sends a subtle message to the universe:

     filch a pigeon and she will sing,
     smudge a dove and you will pay,
     pummel a opossum and nobody cares.

Strange unwritten rules here.
Don’t touch the thingamajig but
powder the cadaver prior to display.

You have to find something to save your life

be it rain, clouds or percussion,
be it poetry, pottery or hornpipes,
be it God, music or almond butter.

When the drunken gauger punches
the king of the fairies you have a decision
to make. St. Patrick’s Day is full of joy
but also green beer and Jameson.
It helps to pulverize the corned beef first.

Some say sentences should flow like honey,
others that meaning is in the music.

​

You are so systematic you strategize breakfast
before going to bed:

   overnight oats and almond butter drizzle,
   cacao nibs, cinnamon, a spot of Sriracha.