January 2024
Bio Note: I have come to love even the things that annoy me. This poem is from Enormous Blue Umbrella, my forthcoming book from Moon Tide Press.
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I want more pages in my day planner with its tidy squares and room on the side for “to dos” to be checked off, and I want that list to never end. I want one page after another and another to appear in unending supply, the way peanut butter jars appear in the cupboard and I’m aghast at their number, and know you’ve been to that big box store once again, so, it takes me forever to find the tiny jar of saffron stuck in the back. I want more dreams of falling for the joyful relief at awakening from the chasm of sleep to consult my day planner and tick off tasks that annoy me. I want more days to gripe in my mind about tiny hillocks of crumbs, you’ve left on the counter while slicing bread from Gusto’s on Fourth Street, bought in such quantity and stuffed in the freezer, that I can’t find my tiny pint of mint chip ice cream. Then the drip drop of red wine, the drip drop of tomato from the salad you made for me last night—I want more of that on the counter. I want more mornings when your heavy breathing wakens me from sleep, when your five-pillow chateau threatens to topple and smother me, and I get up with the sun and head out for my walk when the glorious unfolding of the day is waiting.
Originally published in ONE ART
©2024 Donna Hilbert
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