Never Mind
Never mind the pins
And needles I am on.
Let all the other instruments
Of torture have their way.
While air-conditioners
Freeze my coffee
I watch the toaster
Eating my toast.
Did I press the right
Buttons on all these
Buttonless surfaces
Daring me to press them?
Did you gasp on seeing what
The mailman just brought?
Will the fellow I saw pedaling
Across the bridge live long
After losing his left leg,
His penis, and his bike
To fearlessness?
Will his sad wife find
Consolation with the
Computer wizard called in
Last year to deal with glitches?
Did you defuse the boys’
Bomb before your house
Was under water, same
As everything else?
Aunt Til grabbed her
Silver hand mirror
Before floating away.
The dog yelped constantly,
Tipping our canoe.
Silly dog.
Copyright Credit: Dorothea Tanning, “Never Mind” from Coming to That. Copyright © 2011 by Dorothea Tanning. Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press.
Source: Coming to That (Graywolf Press, 2011)