Anyway, I don’t believe in
whiskers on kittens, gratitude
journals, fluffy slippers, or
any of those Martha Stewart
Good Things or whatever
it is that Oprah knows
for sure. I’m a crank,
and I’m meaner than I look.
But I know and you know
that there are still
lowercase, non-italic
(Roman, let’s say)
good things in this world,
and it is still worth
being here, if for no
other reason than to see
what happens next–even if
that thing is terrible
and you can’t stop it, so
it keeps you up at night
or it wakes you up just
before your alarm goes off.
Look, I’m not an optimist.
The power of my positive
thinking? It could maybe,
on a good day, light up
Duluth. Not even. Bemidji,
let’s say. Maybe just
a bar in Bemidji, some dark
little place with whiskey,
beer, and Paul Bunyan. Here
I am, struggling over this
on my couch in Chicago,
and there you are, wherever
it is that you are. If I
could, I’d meet you at that
Paul Bunyan bar in Bemidji,
our good things like tiny
suns, bouncing off ice cubes,
making indoor Northern Lights.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For November PAD Chapbook Challenge, Day 5. Prompt: Keep This [Blank].
Marilyn Rauch Cavicchia 
MarLyn, I think this is my favorite poem of yours. It’s just great!
Wow, thanks, Charlotte! I’m doing some different things this month, and it all seems to be resulting in poems that are a little less buttoned-up than my usual. It’s been a great exercise, and I think I’m learning some things I can use even once this month is done.
Sorry about the mess with your name. Damn auto-correct!
Oh, no, that’s OK. Autocorrect has ruined some of my wittiest, most incisive (I thought) Facebook posts, too. Stupid autocorrect.
How fantastic, Marilyn! I love this one!
Thank you! It’s very different for me, and definitely a case where you never would have written a particular poem without a challenge like this. I sort of went into “New York school” mode, which I know from last April’s NaPoWriMo. 🙂
Marilyn, may I post this with a link to your blog on my blog NOLAFemmes.com? Email me at nolafemmes504@gmail.com. Thanks!