Friday, April 6, 2012

Mary - Carelessness

(sister of Martha and Lazarus)


There is a certain art to careless-

ness. I possess

it and it possesses me in the late

afternoon when the sun warms through the kitchen window and the plates

are still dirty in the sink.

I think

it looks better

dirty, and chocolate chip cookies taste better

slightly burnt, still stuck on the pan where

they were several hours ago. The right side of my face is stuck to the table cloth, and I stare

sideways at a pair of salt

and pepper shakers. My silence exalts

these inanimate objects to the status of gods. Nothing else

matters but their form and beauty, suspended in dust particles and sunlight, and the fact that my pulse

beating against the table won’t make

them move, won’t even quake

the scattered granules of salt, small expression

of reciprocal inspiration.

How could I care

less, when I topple these porcelain towers and there,

inside, is nothing at all but salt

and pepper.

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