Simile

Sometimes there is quiet for many days,

there is no more room in the voicemail,

the fortune cookies remain uneaten,

the ears chirp with fields of crickets.

A dog is licking his bone,

occasionally jawing the hock,

but mostly licking.

The fire is an even glow,

not too hot, not too cold,

it is like the log has turned to charcoal

and there is a nice even burning,

proper and genteel flames,

not reckless and unruly

like in the morning with the vent open.

Some days it feels like someone

has served a large plate of banana pudding

and I do not like banana pudding

or damp vanilla wafers

and so the day becomes like riding an escalator

when you have a headache.

A long escalator,

like in the subway in DC.

The stop near the zoo and the conference hotel.

It is a terrible thing to have the stomach flu

while staying in a hostel.

When the kids were little

and we went on a whale watching trip,

but the seas were rough on the way back,

and I had never been seasick before.

Or maybe something not stomach related.

When you accidentally put a Necco Wafer in your mouth

and you only then remember that you do not like Necco Wafers.

It is a long reminder.

It is the day after building a Lego structure

using every block in the bin,

and it has been broken and partially disassembled

on the living room carpet.

Waiting.

Dean at Home: The Pandemic Blog