catching up

a friend texted me '& how are you'

whereby i thought about the litanies 

of anguish i feel regarding our uncertain

days on this third rock of the sun

but could i admit to ecstatic moments

like stepping outside the building after

a long day at the office where the mind

is shot & the feet are sore until

two blocks away the skies erupt into

a violently unexpected downpour 

when i text my wife 'it's fucking raining'

thinking that it will clear up i continue on

rather than getting pissed at getting soaked 

the wet of my shirt against my skin 

the petrichor of the new rain on the city streets

i am, in spite of myself, happy 

when a homeless man sees me taking shelter 

under a tree & says, 'how the hell did you find

the only dry spot here!  it is pouring, you 

are some kind of genius at staying dry'

which cracks me up & i tell him i'm no 

freaking genius but thank him for his 

good thoughts when he then says, 'stay dry

brother' & i say, 'you too brother'

whereby my happiness increases 

& i text my friend in reply, 'all is well here

in my domestic bohemia, in other words 

the same old same old, which is really a gift'

& i realize the routine things & the unexpected 

things are really a gift to experience

despite all the miseries visited upon us 

& the ones we cause because well shit

 

& fuck & fucking goddamn it all

move on move down move up

but moving we do because in the end

we got no freaking choice