All My Exercise
Some people like to drive their car
so they can walk inside a gym.
There is a gym in walking distance.
I might walk there and back again.
Some put washers in their closets.
You can do that, I don’t care.
I get all my exercise just
going up and down these stairs.
Knobs and Tubes
I’m starting to wonder
if the knobs and tubes were built into the house
or if they were added later.
It’s hard to imagine that,
after thousands upon thousands of years of sooty light,
that there was someone ready to install
the odorless electric light
(and all the necessary wires)
way out here, in the middle of the Great Plains,
by 1902. Twenty-three years after Edison’s forty-hour lightbulb.
And if these wires were strung before the plaster,
which, in many ways it seems they must have been,
what an electrician!
A daring man, working with this new form of fire,
stretching out the hots and neutrals,
wrapping them around the knobs, through the tubes,
to this room.
A man of great foresight–
he put wall outlets in when there was hardly a thing to plug into them.
I hope he would be pleased to see
all that I have plugged in
right now.
Photo credit: http://www.ge.com/about-us/history/1878-1904
Housework for the Winter
When the weather’s kinda crappy
at least you know you can be happy
that your housework’s getting done
because it’s relatively fun.
On the day’s the weather’s nice
you just want to be outside.
So get some loppers, spades and splinters,
and leave the housework for the winter.
Two Degrees
Can you feel the difference
between fifty-five and fifty-seven?
Ninety-one and ninety-three? Nine and eleven?
How about thirty-one and thirty-three?
(I’m talking fahrenheit degrees.)
These two make a difference you can see.
And what is your heart’s melting point?
The two degrees that tip you over?
What tiny change, made one more time,
will make you come alive?
Or kill you, if you are a snowman.
Doing It Ourselves
We decided, instead of bringing the car to the mechanic,
or calling it totaled (maybe we should have),
that we would do it ourselves,
“because we could.”
But we couldn’t do it ourselves without
the friend who helped us put the last bolt in,
the friend who helped us push the car back into the garage,
the man who made that YouTube video,
the guy at the auto parts store,
the author of the tear-down manual,
all these people who have helped us
do it “ourselves.”
Doing the Budget
Sitting with paper, erasers and pencils,
making a plan that will serve as a stencil
to keep us nicely inside the lines,
at least, we hope, most of the time.
For How Many Days
For how many days now have you not taken a real nap?
All these days you’ve been painting
and helping mommy
and playing dress-up
and riding to the library.
You are funner then ever now,
but while you’re being all grown up,
could you still sleep like a baby?
And while you can reach the sink
with just a little step stool,
can you still fit neatly in my arms?
Welcome, Little Child
Welcome, little child,
snuggle on this side
of the body you were in,
that safe dark place to hide.
We will understand
if you take some time to mourn
the place you’ve left behind.
You won’t always be that warm.
Last Day in the Womb
Catch the phone just by the echo of its last ring,
run outside to glimpse the eclipse of the moon,
learn as if it is the first day of summer,
and grow like it’s your last day in the womb.
Like I’m Crazy
You look at me like I’m crazy
to say I’m going to walk into your scrap yard
and haul off the piece I need.
Should I have put my hair in a ponytail at least?
Are my shoulders too rounded to carry anything home on?
Am I asking too many questions or something?
Maybe I shouldn’t have brought the toddler,
expecting to get this done during her nap.
Let’s face it. I am crazy.