Time Is of the Essence
So the one they call god made this game with life
he divided the page in regular squares
he called hours and said, you’ll move forward
filling those one by one with things you’ll call
sleeping, bathing or else watching TV
you will call them praying, quarreling or
making love or else counting crows
these things won’t give you points, said god
and one isn’t more valuable than another
the assortment is just for variety, then he left.
And she wonders what would occur if she sat
in front of the blank expanse and refused
to hold the pencil, and filled nothing with nothing
as if putting her hand on a Bible, in court
saying I swear and then stopping, mouth agape
mesmerized by dust dancing on a blade of light
from the window, as if visited by death
and running to her closet, opening it upon
a long array of mute, innocent clothes and
saying, wait, I can’t decide what to wear.
• • •
Toti O’Brien is the Italian accordionist with the Irish last name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is also the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), and An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020).