I didn’t mind the volume or the tone –
fidelity was no big deal for me –
but I made sure to set the clock to drone
me early up, so I could shop and be
at work ahead of customarily.
Once there, perhaps I’d ride the mail and phone
instead of being ridden, but my key
misplaced absorbed the spot of time I’d grown.

As coastal fog is caught on redwood trees
in webs of curling tendrils that the sun
disperses warming, so the minutes freeze
and melt, evaporating every one.
The morning’s gone before it’s nearly half
begun, and I’ve no course except to laugh.