Lessons in the Art of Disappearance

Nothing
is about you   except
washing the dishes well   with nothing
but a bucket water soap and rag   no Cosmic Influence
no out of mind   out of body   exemption
just you and the dishes
just you and the bubbles
no glandular bliss
no oracular sounding
no jettisoning fluid
and no one applauding   or even giving a care
it's just you standing there   loose in silent motion
no meditative trance   especially when the crud is deep
like your silent grief   and all the ways
that you have died everyday
and no one noticed   and   without thinking
assumed that you had never left
that you've always been standing there   at the sink
that you haven't already been cremated
so many times   that there is not even the hope
of not another burning   but none of this matters
not when there is another dish to wash   When
you   finally   lift a cup   from the counter
as if it might be the left foot of God
when you dip it into the bubbly warm water
when you lift it out and rub the rag over its skin
when you dip it again into the rinse water
when you turn it over and around to see it well done
and when you can't help yourself any longer
and you know with a certain unknowing   that
you have just kissed the left foot of God   there you go
​you are done   gone

​-- Robert Daniel Smith