lenten journal: allergic reaction

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    “Works of art are not born in flashes of the imagination, but in daily fidelity.”
    — Albert Camus (quoted in Stephen Dunn’s Walking Light)

    The beginning of pollen season is killing me here. I found the above quote as I was reading Dunn’s book and waiting until it was time to take my next Benadryl.

    allergic reaction

    allergies are anathema to thought
    there is no room for rumination
    in my mucus-muddled membranes
    eyelids dropping like garage doors
    nose clogged like a rush hour street
    all of my ideas are weary immigrants
    unsure of who can be trusted
    to lead them to free expression
    all I can tell them is show up again
    tomorrow and the day after that
    come back everyday until your
    faithfulness acts as antihistamine
    come back the morning after rain
    or the evening of the first frost
    the afternoon we plant vegetables
    and the day that nothing happens
    soon we will know each other well
    enough to create between sneezes

    Peace,
    Milton

    2 COMMENTS

    1. Love the poem. I feel your…stuffiness.

      Can’t resist telling you that the generic ZyrtecD has given me my life back. Inside, outside, whatever. And I’m not nuts-sleepy or nuts-hyper from Benedryl…

      You didn’t ask, but like a good neighbor, I have to tell you.

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