Hmm

I do my best not to jump ahead of things. One is good enough for now, 

Hmm

Hmm

Hmm

Everything comes

In threes:

Doubt

Understanding

Even joy.

Threes I tell you

Three

A somehow

Magic number.

I count now

I have only reached

One.

Two more

To go.

Hmm.

Two toes

Learning once more what counts

Standard questions:

Are you in pain?

What’s the number?

Have you fallen?

Here I am

Here I am

Here I am

What’s the number?

I moved two toes

On my right foot

Today

That’s the number

That counts

Here I am

Here I am

Here I am

Two toes.

Off the grid

Several Midwestern cities are gridded. How else would we know which direction we're going? Or even where we've come from? I did live in Boston for a couple years. There they speak of streets being old cow paths. The main streets are unlabeled. If you belong there... you know what they are. I grew up on the grid. I am learning to make my own grid, reorienting myself by the sun.

I grew up

On the grid.

Streets were oriented

North and South,

East and West.

North South streets were named

In alphabetical order.

When the alphabet ended,

It began again.

East and west

Were numbered.

For numbered streets

There is no end.

Now I live on a one block lane

With curves.

I am forever getting mixed up.

I reorient myself daily

By the sun.

In truth

I have been off the grid

For years.

Now

The alphabet has way more

Than twenty six letters.

Now

I have completely lost faith

In numbers.

I am gridless.

I reorient daily

By the sun.

Number change

Grateful for a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year.  Sitting here in the warm watching it snow.

Today marks the new year

Even as every day begins

A new year,

Except this time

The number changes.

The world is covered

In snow.

It hangs heavy

On the trees.

We,

Barely risen

To greet

This new world,

Sit warm inside

Watch the numbers

Change.