here I start:

flexing my right index finger
as it learns to move
in its newly stiff arthritic way;

It works, but unwillingly
and unconvincingly.

flexing the part of me
that says that all things pass,
the good and the bad;

the part that knows
I am not alone

and I keep repeating it:

I am not alone,
and I am not alone
and I am not alone,

because I heard someone say
you only have to repeat a thing three times
to make it true,

but I find that
that part
is as stiff as my arthritic finger

and
and works in much the same way.

10/21/2008