Tuesday poem #26 : Hailey Higdon : just like us

would if I were
would if I were

in the place where
in the place where

wrapped in your towel were containment enough, comfort for shame, in the bathtub where all thinking begins and all we do is let go, your sad sunglasses, here we go again how we were again, I miss you, it is all I can say

but wait this

rain came on the articles I left outside, out in the cups of tiny crops it was getting moist, gaining momentum up

would if I were in the
place where you were in the
would if I were in the

sacks of gravel, no birdseed, it rots on the porch with the porch that’s also rotting

my bags are not packed, my bags are not moving

I still do laundry, celebrities are just like us

they do laundry
they use baskets

those big splinters, ideas, my work stays at work even though I like it

the most interesting social experiment or the one where you leave is happening right now, over a night of laundry, egg salad and public radio, I am grieving while you drive home

when I think of you I think of an optimist, I hold out for the best, beasts challenge the zodiac and all our opportunities have opened up

if I were in the place where you were, our precious, our precious

bottoms would be up in the urban waffle house, singing the gratitude that happiness is just like us

Hailey Higdon is the author of the chapbooks Packing (Bloof Books, 2012), How To Grow Almost Everything, (Agnes Fox, 2011) and the book-blog The Palinode Project. She runs What To Us (press). She is affiliated with many states and has many homes. She is a lifelong student of sound and language.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan