You Could Try

Frances Schenkkan

By the time the coffee beans arrive

watching blue jays on the feeder next door
may no longer suffice.

You could try to read things as soon as
they come, so the magazines don’t stack up.

You can try the piano. You could play
an easy piece, if only in the right hand.

Always this trying.

Today, write that check to church,
find a book about snails for your godson,

and is it okay to exfoliate so often?
This may not be the time to question much. 

Order those mild coffee beans. 
They take awhile to arrive and the world 

may look different to you by then.
Isn’t that what people keep telling you?  

They mean well. Truly.

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