User’s Manual

copyright 1956, first edition, N^th printing
the one with the expectation green cover
now faded to early winter gray sky

page 66 tells you when to get wet
I intentionally misread the number
and jumped in on page 16

I tread water for decades, discovered
an alternate version with a distracting
black and white yin-yang cover

place of pride on a bookshelf
still shrink-wrapped, unopened,
never read

[RK, 1/12/2021]

Sugar in the Rain

technically fourteen minutes before sunset
the afternoon defines the gray scale

today I realize new moons lack fanciful names
only because they cannot be seen

my first impressions of the world
dissolve, sweet sugar in the rain

I coax them with syllables
but moons play hard to get

[RK, 1/12/2021]
 
 
One Pot

heat went from my body
into the saucepan food
the food went into you
now you are warm again

[RK, 1/12/2021]