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You Think You Can Depend
by Janet Krauss
You think you can depend
On your hair being curly
Since all summer long
It billows and wraps
Itself around your finger
Until the first dry wave
Of a day in October
When your hair lets you
Down like sails, listless, flat
In a no wind situation.
You think you can depend
On the windows staying clean
Because they were just washed,
So clear, it’s as if they have souls,
Rinsed of their sins,
But the rain leaves a myriad
Of dirty prints as a message,
“Why bother….”
You think you can depend
On your students appearing
Every morning by gripping
The sides of your desk
As though that will secure
Their presence, prevent
Them from slipping off
The edge of the earth
Like the proverbial ship
When no longer in sight
Even if you blink
In hopes it will emerge again.
You think you can depend
On the local diner to fill
Each morning with people
Hungry for each other’s words.
You smile as you pass by
To see cars parked close
Together as their owners
Are sipping coffee
And waiting for plates heaped
With eggs and buttered toast.
But your smile disappears
On a morning the lot
Is empty, like a field
Lying fallow under
A steel-colored sky.