A COLLAGE OF GATHERING PERFECTIONS

Just rain,
at first--
not cars,
not trucks,
not sirens,
and not people--
just the rain
trying to get through
to me
outside my windows
on a slate-gray
Friday afternoon
piercing this hot/humid tedium
of July torture.
Monk is added
discovering new ways
to ponder old riddles.
I'm newly showered
& shampooed; I scrubed
my confines
protecting flesh & spirit
& now integrated
my morphine base
with cashews & raisins--
a treat for the sweet & salty
in all of us.
I lean back
& light a Lucky.
My body-molded desk chair
conforms to my bends.
A warm glow enters
with an opiate's forgiveness.
It seems I have a third eye
in the middle of my forehead
as Sonny joins Thelonious
& "I Want To Be Happy" plays--
yes, I want to be happy, too.
And I am happy
& what next
is now.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2020