(book at hand, on a snow day at home — actually, i pulled out Maxine Hong Kingston’s Fifth Book of Peace, and inside found a bookmark gift from years ago from the baker with his words which feel perfect right now…)
This time
the quiet spaces that
fall between
like snow in a forest
to cover the exposed
ground
as though from timidity
this time before you
awake
is the time when I try to
imagine
what I did to deserve
this time
in the strange way that
we have
this is our independence
the breath we take
while the other is
sleeping
and it is enough
Rock Bottom Homestead 