Anita DeRouen

So I was traveling and then I got back, which means that this moment is the first I’ve had in almost a week to think about, much lest post to, this blog. My apologies.

There were great words missed, but since I missed them AND this week’s Idol prompt (which I quite liked), I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Besides: I got to make a video today. That was fun. 

The upshot of it all is that I’m back, I suppose, and I haven’t forgotten to blog; I just haven’t had the time. Perhaps tomorrow…

draft

a sign,
loud and lucky

I bait for it, my
line taught patience
by the fat worm still
wriggling to get
off the hook

water placid, the
sun binds my
eyes shut

I work
I wait
by feel, the
boat sway, the
sweet sweat day, the
gentle slump of my
spine as I
pray for release.

the gentle sway
of train cars
as I sit and sip
a cup of hot coffee

the just-right fit
of those jeans that
you used to wear
and can wear again

unexpected wifi
that you don’t really
use because
the person
you’ve just spent
7 days with
is still first-day
dear to you

uniformed workers
meeting over
cards and coffees
to pass the miles

the small cosmos
of this cafe
car, all of
us hurtling across
dark landscapes
trying to find
home.

These boots were made for walking.

I was fascinated by the dirty ice/snow formations we kept walking past in Poughkeepsie today. Unfortunately, my phone camera wasn’t up to the challenge…

a drafty draft

besides
I don’t like–
well, any of it
actually–
walking
talking
waiting for you
to figure out where
I want to be found. I spend
too much time
looking down
eyes cast and
wondering where
I got my shoes
your ruse yet
I choose to play
again.

I’m home now. Jackson-home, not New Iberia-home. I’m on my couch in my jammies, feet tucked under my cozy flannel blanket, laptop in my lap. I’m working–checking email, looking at materials for tomorrow’s classes, flipping through an essay collection that came while I was away. I’m trying to get my mind off of all the things that can occupy it on a long, lonely interstate drive: family troubles, work stresses, questions about my future.

I’m struggling against sleep, truth be told. I’m exhausted from all of it, the work that often happens on this couch, under this blanket. This is why I work on the couch. It’s a soft place to land when the hard edges of the day need smoothing.

It was cold, but Independents rolled, led by the Krewe of Couche Couche.