Friday, November 8, 2024

THE HARDER WE TRY


A shelf full of 
antique clocks 
that have no 
big or little hands.

Day and night 
follow one
another even as
our chatter and
toys take us 
out of the actual
moment we're in.

A drawer full
of empty Scotch tape dispensers,
rubber bands of many colors,
paper clips 
bent out of shape
to retrieve small things
and hold other things together,
many dead batteries,
lots of flip top phones
from a more promising part of the century,
matches from jazz clubs.

The harder 
we try,
the more trying it gets.

Jill, I can hear 
you laughing
as I say these things,
there was nothing
on my keychain
that could start the car,
each key
was to doors
in far away zip codes.

A watch
with no little or big hand
on the dial
will not stop the 
hair from falling out,
the eyesight failing
or the new pains
that emerge each
week , regular as subscriptions.

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