Little Things and Big Things

up at two am, coffee

and internet browsing,

walking the dog

in the cold darkness,

can’t focus on

the poetry study group

even though Joan Retallack

is one of my favorites

Refilling my coffee

I note, for the thousandth time

a spot of missing paint

a bit of dog-chewed

newsprint in the floor

“I should pick that up

I should get out the paint

and touch that spot up”

and then I remember

the siding shingles

one missing two years ago

so I bought a box of new ones

another has since fallen

the box unopened,

the shingles still missing

I drink my coffee

and think of little things.