Moment to moment

I walk down the street

And hear myself breathe

Counting each breath

To keep myself

From thinking too much,

Or feeling

It’s always safe to breathe,

I think,
but you never know

I deliver my bags of laundry

And start the machines

Studying the front of the one

With the brightest colored clothing

Each tumbling among the suds

As if in love’s embrace

It’s safe to stare, I think

But you never know..

I repeat the sequence for the dryer

Where the colors grow on me

Each fluffing up

As I stare

Each arm of a shirt

Wrestling with the leg of pants

All embracing and letting go

It’s safe to watch, I think,

But you never know.

It’s never safe to think too much

To dwell on faces or voices

Or to remember too much

About what has been said,

Warnings of doom

That hang over head

Promises of salvation,

It’s never safe to believe

Too much in a future

That can never be

Or a past that never was,

It’s not even safe to believe

In here and now,

Moment to moment,

But you never know.

email to Al Sullivan