Time Lap

I was standing in front of a warming pot

Cutting carrots, celery, onions on a red wood round

I was a passenger, somewhere dozing off, between 60

And 5 miles, the time I had walked

Immersing only when liquid cools off

Even before that I was younger, ripe eyes, golden hair

I don't remember but I think I may have been pretty

I feigned I was deaf one time, racing home

I swung wildly an umbrella and chorused a soprano note

So far all veggies are in the correct cooking order

Around that time I feared old milk, moldy bread, dishwater

I never swore, swallowed gum, or faked a smile

I think I was wearing a parrot shirt, red shorts, or some other red jumper

I stopped crossing empty fields, selling candy door to door, riding my bike

After the onions, celery, and carrots were hot

I was deciphering between who-dun-it and urban legends

Then I pressed pause, watching the noodles, again overcook

Looking at how the past and the present borrow from each other

Time moving forward, time lapping

Filling in all the illusional gaps wishing I could be up in the sky

Later that night, I found Floppy bear

Years after what was once a stuffed animal wall

But nowadays I think, how it would be nice, to tip toe back

Just one step, right over the arrow, quiet step back

Tennis players would be across the street, the car

Needing directions would have avoided me

Veggies and noodles

Al dente

Clburdett,  2016