trash talking
after staying up late to
watch the ball drop
and listen to musicians
I didn’t recognize
we did not need fireworks
lightning lit up the sky
and the rain fell like
it was washing the world
so far this morning I have
fed pups drank coffee
done Wordle (NERVE)
and written these words
it is the first day of the
last year in the first
quarter of the latest
century on the calendar
and it is Wednesday
the middle child of weekdays
whose first reminder is
I need to empty the trash
which makes me think of
those who had to sweep up
wet confetti after the crowd
cleared in Times Square
were I to walk the neighborhood
under the year’s first clouds
I would see the storm’s detritus
of leaves and branches
the world doesn’t change overnight
the world changes every day
either way we have to keep
picking up after ourselves
Peace,
Milton
