The Resonance of No
Robert Okaji Yes, yes, we've heard. The dishwasher wastes less and cleans better. But Kenkō believed in the beauty of leisure, and how better to make nothing while standing with hands in soapy water, thoughts skipping from Miles Davis's languid notes to the spider ascending to safe shelter under the sill (after I blow on her to amuse myself), washing my favorite knife and wondering if I should hone it, not to mention my skills on the six-string or the potato peeler. And if I linger at the plates, even the chipped one, admiring their gleam after hot water rinses away the soap residue, who could question the quick gulp of ale or the shuffle of an almost-but-not-quite dance step-or-stumble while arranging them on the ribbed rack, back-to-back, in time to Coltrane's solo. Then the forgotten food processor's blade bites my palm, and I remember that I've outgrown the dark suit, the cut branches still need bundling and none of the words I've conjured and shaped over decades and miles will extend their comfort when I stand at my father's grave this week or next. |
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About the Author: Robert Okaji lives in Texas with his wife, two dogs and some books. He is the author of the chapbook If Your Matter Could Reform (Dink Press), two micro-chapbooks from the Origami Poems Project, and a chapbook-length work "The Circumference of Other" included in Ides: A Collection of Poetry Chapbooks (Silver Birch Press). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in High Window, Glass, Eclectica, Into the Void, Panoply,Otoliths,Kindle Magazine, Posit, Clade Song, Long Exposure and elsewhere. For more on Robert Okaji, visit his blog, O at the Edges.
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