when she asked me to turn
off the sprinklers in twenty minutes
i nodded and noticed the kitchen clock
and then the one in the living room.
they were ten minutes apart.
i began to tell her and she said
“Oh, jack” in that tone, you know which one.
“This is not science.”
“go make a clock then” is what i thought
but didn’t say,
then forgot where i was going with this
so i returned to the spot where i thought it
ever do that?
it usually works - to capture forgotten thoughts
return to the spot where you thought it.
this time it didn’t work.
looking out the kitchen window
there on the back of a chair
a squirrel sat intensely
looking in at me.
i had a plan where i was going with this
but now, before i forget again,
i'd better go out
and turn off the sprinklers.
4 comments:
Hi Jack,
Did you change your blog background color? It looks richer.
Hmmm, just look at the one clock; and at least you remembered the sprinklers. "Returning to the spot where I thought it." I often have to do that, when I am looking for my keys, and then forget, that is what I was looking for.
didn't change my colors.
i actually checked four clocks, but picked two that were farthest apart for the poem.
come on! i thought i was the only one who returned to the spot where i had the thought in order to remember it.
"Go Make a Clock Then," Poems by Jack Sender
(good title for your collection!). This poem is all about ordinary disorientation. I so get that.
Hannah, one day i'll put them all together. they'll be easier to find in one volume, and since they're all from life, that's what it is, one volume.
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