Old Worries

A Poem

Apr 26, 2024

Don’t you worry about right and wrong,
about what falls from the tree branches,
hits you on the mountaintop.

There is no up or down,
only farther and closer,
and you can forge a path to anything.

When I lie sick in my bed at night,
and the geese fly by with honking car calls,
they remind me

there is an inside and an outside
and we spend far too much time
worrying anyway.

I did not step outside my house today.
I did not step outside my mouth.
I did not mouth the outside.

I watched a screen of baleen eat everyone
as they left this morning. Heave and labor
heavy until the end of worried time.

If you enjoyed this poem, please consider my book Childproof Sky, a 2023 Cherry Dress Chapbooks selection. Available now!