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
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