when your day
is in need of
an adjustment
(how might you
spin a wretched
day that was
supposed to be
so awesome into
anything akin to
what you awoke
at such an early
hour so eagerly
and so heartily
and so needily
anticipating?
well, if you
can bring
yourself to
follow by rote
this simple list
of instructions
it should, I
assure you,
be just the fix!)
first, stand
with your bare
feet planted
on a familiar
surface, like
the floor of
your living
room, for
example,
stare directly
into the face of
the air in the space
or anything there
that by just the
staring can conjure
with imagination
the poison that
thus far has sickened
and darkened an
otherwise robust
and healthy day,
which now that I
think of it shouldn’t
be quite front
center, but at
an angle that is
a bit further left
or right and
also now that
I mention it
do not stare
directly at or
into it
and then
cross your eyes
just a little while
still looking pretty,
of course, but
just for a second,
then,
allow your top
half to bend
like a rag-doll
or a sudden
death head-
first to front
a swoop to
the floor til
your head
wobbles a
little as it
hovers just
above the
living room
rug,
and there
you should
make sure and
hang for at
least a minute,
after which,
and with
your patented
confidence and
magnificently
paced (and calm!)
deliberation,
ever so slowly
begin to lift
that still-
wobbling
little by little
all the way
back to
where it
was all
the while
believing
yourself the
architect of
your very own
creation, as
if rebuilding
your spine by
placing one
heretofore fallen
disc securely
upon the one
below it, and
so on and
so on and
so on and
then you
breathe in the
biggest whop-
ping gulp
you’ve ever
breathed,
breathe in til
the deep of
the deepest
hollows of
the gunk
that rests
just below
the lowest
part of your
lungs is filled
to capacity
with all you
can possibly
suck,
and hold
this gulp in
for exactly
ten seconds,
then let it all
out with the
loudest shriek
that ever escaped
that sizzling moue
and just keep it
coming til all
you can see
is a room so
askew that
the point of
all of this un-
warranted
dismay has
twisted its
cute little
head right
directly at
you with the
most obvious
apology that
you never did
hear and a
fright in its
eyes that just
won’t disappear
hold on to that
gaze for a beat
too long before
finishing it all off
with the biggest
belly laugh you
never thought
your belly might
possibly could
swing, yeah
just let that
belly rock let
it roll let it
heave let
it ho (again,
that’s: rock,
roll, heave
and ho)
and that’s
how your
day gets
a lot more
related to
what you
awoke and
thought
surely was
coming,
yep, that’s
what’ll fix it
up right,
I assure,
then the
only thing
left that’s
to do, my
good friend
is that you
stop what
you’re doing
twist your
neck for
a second
work out
the last
knot or
two and
then
you start
the day
over as
new once
again.
(et voilà!)
