Thinking Outside The Prompt…

TODAY SOUNDS LIKE

the freeway entrance is closed we
don’t have time
to get coffee we’ve
had this conversation
three times already about
my family about your family will there be
enough money to send him home for
the funeral

today sounds like a funeral
there were more
pauses than words
and in a one-word check-in more
than one person is confused

today sounds confusing
it started at 4am when I woke up from
a dream where the wolf pack was
hunting me and
the heater was still beating a rhythm out
on its chest the
man was pushing a shopping cart down
the street and I wondered
what might be on the tv
but I don’t need it I

just need to listen
to what
silence there is around a conversation that includes
death and car parts in the same
breath it might be that this is
what it is:

the brakes need to be fixed before the
funeral or sometimes instead of it and
the baby’s coming soon, she said, he’s
already flipped

little swimmer, ready to dive out I
hope you know that somedays they will try
to block every entrance to your
destination and
somedays the communication will be unclear

somedays will be like
today
will feel like there’s an extra blanket
on your bed
will be a bit suffocating
little swimmer
but there is always
air, you just have to remember
to breathe in
deeper.

~MB