JUST LIVING IT OUT

is something
I can't do
easily: too
self-conscious
about everything
I'm not
doing.
You might think
I'm working
on this
poem
right now
but I'm not
really
doing
that
& that
only:
I'm not
making
money
or babies
or curing
cancer
or opening
an envelope
or trimming
my nails
or the fat
off my soul
or forging
a friendship
or killing
an objection
or designing
a rocket ship
or picking
a mushroom
or taking
a shower
or medication.

The beetle
is prophetic.
And the morning dew
cleanses all
sinners.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2016