#383: Poem on April 9, 2021

Poem on April 9

Things to do:
Shovel shit out of the back yard.
Empty the poop bucket.
Mow the lawn again.
Avoid dying.
Attempt three more
days without alcohol.
Decide.
Finish teaching
the school year
in still another mode
that’s never before
been attempted
in the history of your
school. Be best.
Decide again.
Find a way to remove
that stain. Purge.
Acquire new music.
Unlearn everything.
Meditate again.
Ride that stupid bike.
Know that you cannot
change them if they do
not want to change.
It’s not personal.
Decide.
Ask yourself,
is this important
or is that more
important than this.
Either live without
or do the damn thing
and be satisfied
either way. Decide.
Love that ambiguity.
Take risks safely or
do something stupid.
Stop imagining
another life.
Go ahead, imagine it.
Love better.
Eat well.
Convince 9th graders
that e. e. cummings
is the shit and
don’t confuse
being with unbeing.
Finish the laundry again.
Fold the laundry.
Tell your son three days
in a row to put away
his clothes, then stop
telling him. Decide.
Have fun growing old.
Check out those crazy birds.
Make sure you get back
to the ocean, and soon.
Notice what’s missing
from your to-do list and
cross everything off
except for those things.
Begin again.