Prayer for Attentiveness
Eye and ear and brain aligned
as arrow-marked
childproof pill bottle lid and lip,
pushed in to pop
off. A life Zambonied, ice rink
sheen restored
to unseen familiarities: your
husband’s jaw,
the cat’s black jigsaw mask,
the rasp of your
car in the cold that you catch
through a rolled-
down window. The details of
a face, yawning,
the details and mechanics of
skin, relationship,
carpet, potato peeler whittling
down ground-
dwelling vegetables. The ordinary
ordained, not
a vanishing of garbage bags, but
the most garbage
baggiest garbage bags you have
ever laid eyes on.
Taken together with the title, this is a powerful admonition to BE HERE NOW. Love it.
ReplyDeleteI love the rolling internal rhyme and language play.
ReplyDeleteSplendid...I was really praying for attentiveness this morning as I lack(ed) it. Sending you loving wishes...
ReplyDeleteA list poem with a reason to be a list poem... Unlike so many.
ReplyDeleteAwesome phrasing and wordplay, with excellent rhymes. The ending is killer, well done.
ReplyDelete