I didn’t brush my teeth last night,
didn’t write a poem either —
daily necessities overridden
by the black rolling of roof underlayment
racing against darkness and the predicted rain,
and no motivation to cook by lantern light
and all the restaurants closed or far away

I didn’t write a poem last night
or brush my teeth either —
just crawled in bed,
but all is well —
everything is still here in the morning.

©Wendy Mulhern
September 22, 2019