Monday, June 8, 2015

I have to work at being an optimist...

When I see a well-dressed man quickly leaving a restaurant,
and he bumps into a well-dressed young boy while turning a corner,
and says loudly to him, “Congratulations to you!”
and hurries toward the exit—and then I notice
that the man is carrying a wrapped present.

When a young woman rear-ends my 1980's hatchback, then buckles in her child,
exits her 2000's sedan and explains, “I don't have my insurance on me,
and this is my father's car. Mine's in the shop.”
Later, she calls me with an offer of $400, and a body-shop tells me it will be $1802,
so I pitch to her $1500, and she replies, “This has to come out of my paycheck.
But I know a guy who works at a shop—would you be willing to drive down there?”
And I remember, among her many expensive-looking tattoos,
Between angel-wing shoulders and scripted wrists,
a pair of brass knuckles.



When a serious relationship is going less than 100% perfectly
and I walk by another couple acting happier in public,
and then I get a smile from someone else attractive who,
in a moment without plans / words / laundry, seems so shiny,
and then I have to look back at that old face I'm with
and remember how deeply perfect she
must be to keep finding
goodness in me.


When I turn on the radio, and it's
the last chorus chorus of a song I like,
the last set before a commercial break,
and I hear those words,
“Are you having a problem with...?”
YES! Yes, probably, I am!
But I'm doing fine with just diet and exercise.
And also—I know you didn't write
the commercial; you're just reading it.
And I know there probably is someone out there
who really appreciates
having this thing, or knowing
it's only $27.99 this month,
and where to find it.
And thank you,
for the offer.

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