Tuesday
You rise, heat the water for coffee
and stretch your sore arms. Outside,
the neighbor’s cat saunters through the garden,
men work the wet yard. It has been raining
for weeks. You must now go out into the world.
It rains a little, the sky overhead.
This day, like all others, is not unlike
heartbreak. The woman you love isn’t there.
No remedy. You shouldn’t
want that anyway. At work you’re busy
complicating the materials and
operating within narrow windows.
You pause, eat something small and resume
again—it's like entering a warm bath
if you could bathe in a box. But
that moment you discerned a hunger
and reached for the thing that would satisfy—
without thinking—all gestures are made
of this one gesture—
a whole life, a pool of water.