Real-Life Danger Overheard While Reading a Difficult Book in a Dimly-Lit Room

"This is why I’m getting old,” a woman’s voice 

comes from the television in the other room. 

“There’s snowpack even on this minor road.”

“It makes no sense. Wait! 

Don’t go that way!” a baby cries,

but it’s too late.

“I had no idea I’d driven past 

the last town at dusk, and now 

I can’t shovel out of this location.”

[LSS, 12/3/20]

Because I Now Have Instant Messenger

I’m thinking about all the letters I write and never send, how I keep them with the outgoing mail, unsealed so I can reconsider my words another day, but mostly they sit collecting dust, until I notice them from time to time and reread them, and if I still approve the content, maybe add a post script apologizing for my tardiness in responding to some urgent request, and then, usually, mislay them once again, and once again they reappear, and I feel compelled to explain again, mostly to myself by now, why I could not bear to mail them in the first place, and today, finally, I have enough ink on paper to build a proper bonfire.

[LSS, 12/3/30]