A TO-DO LIST
make you happy,
face east,
keep an eye out for harlequins,
look more up than down,
walk and grunt at the same time,
hold my nose when appropriate,
don’t sneeze in public,
do not use the word ‘gangrene’ in a sentence,
give that old jacket to a homeless man,
end one thing, begin another,
pretend I’m an intruder in my own house,
indulge in gasps, burps
and wait for somebody who doesn’t come,
claw frantically,
appear tough and hardy,
do not drink gasoline,
return something to sender,
nervously follow,
crawl slowly,
imagine it doesn’t show,
scribble on blank paper,
reacquaint myself with the walls of every room,
say to myself, “It is possible,”
do not go to war,
sip the lip of the waves,
put off a chore for months,
brush away a spider’s web,
believe my fists are iron,
stamp something relentlessly into the ground,
avoid starvation,
power the engines,
write a poem,
play no part in climate change,
find your to-do list
and add it to my mine