Today please don’t 
walk under ladders 
or break mirrors 
or spill salt
why you would 
but don’t open 
an umbrella indoors 
get up on
the wrong side 
of your bed 
and keep both 
eyes open for 
a flickering eye 
is an omen 
and avoid the 
black cat that 
crosses your path 
lest you invoke 
seven years of 
terribly bad luck 

I’d been running 
end to end 
and all around 
looking for something
I’d surely dropped 
finding it nowhere 
I finally stopped 
sat and thought 
had I really
ever had it
or had I 
only thought I’d 
checking my pockets
and inside shoes 
still so desperate 
certain it’s there
and it was
it had already 
been there where
ever I’d been 
for the thing
forever was me 

Early morning orange 
a delicate dip
in new day
just a wash
rinse and spin
of water and 
pot and cup 
slowly dying embers 
of dreams past
ignite dry wood
of dawn coming 

At this age 
I’m an exclusive 
no longer generic
or young or
freshly minted squeezed
or canned I’ve 
been steeping and 
seeping too long 
too late and 
far too often 
a tad bitter
a bit spicy 
but always smooth 
sweet and mellow 
never thrown back 
like an afterthought 
only ever sipped 
and slowly savored 

In my bubble 
away from others 
I lazily swim
bloop bloop bloop
back and forth 
nary a care
round and round 
I go from 
room to room 
and back picking 
up this and 
that then back
just a goldfish 
in a bowl 
on a counter 
sometimes I imagine 
I’m a bird
in the bubble 
of blue sky