2026, pick up sticks

this morning i woke up and walked the dog.

then i brushed my teeth and fed the dog and put clothes on and told the dog i would miss her and i left the house.

i walked to the train and got on when it arrived.

on the train i talked with a couple about opera and witnessing masters of craft and P.T. Barnum’s quote about finding one’s peculiar genius to succeed.

once off the train, i walked to the oldest apothecary in the city for lip salve and a bar of soap. there were many pretty girls with slicked back hair in buns and crisp one-hundred dollar bills.

i walked four avenues to the coffee shop and got a large drip, even though i had been planning on ordering a small, and promised i was taking it to-go because i guess this coffee shop is a club now.

i walked to the movies and met a dear friend to watch Marty Supreme from a seat in the center of the theater. we shared a piece of banana bread and popcorn and laughed and shrieked at all the moments they wrote in hopes that we would laugh and shriek at them (side note: Safdie loves gravity as a plot device).

we had many hugs still in the warmth of the theater and then out in the cold and agreed to have dinner on tuesday because she’s leaving next saturday for a while.

then i walked down to the mission to serve meals. i bussed tables and received trays with the pastor, and he sang behind his mask and i thanked god for this.

one of the people in line showed the pastor a picture. i couldn’t see it well from far away, but i could see that it was a mostly naked man, and i could see money, and he said it was a foreign leader, they had flown him in last night, he was here in this city where i’d been walking all day.

i turned the other way and mentally flagged it for a looking into and then i immediately forgot because there were folks who were finished with their dinner and another who needed a new fork because her tines were tangled and others still who needed more milk.

we cleaned and i hugged the pastor and i could feel his heart and i walked to the restaurant where my partner works and they gave me a coffee. he said he would be done soon, but i went ahead and left to relieve the dog, whom i missed.

i walked the dog and had a shower with my new bar of soap and made tilapia with oil and butter and lemon zest and capers and let my husband in when he arrived because my key broke off in the front door of the building last week and i still haven’t made a new copy.

i didn’t remember about the captured leader until something politically adjacent was mentioned and i didn’t have to say many words to ask and he answered with a sad, dark expression. he knew all about it and had seen the picture the man showed the pastor.

now it’s late and my eyes are burning and my mind is racing because of the too-late coffee and i wish i could walk and walk and walk and i wonder if there is a baby inside me but i think probably there isn’t.

“happy” “new” “year”

*click quote for more on tines