Shocked, believing it must
Happen all at once,
I stubbed my toe, the right one,
In the fast move.
Not quite a jerk or a shuffle
More like a soccer kick gone wrong.

A husband laughs and can’t stop.
It’s what he had hoped for,
Proof.
“Haste makes waste.”
He’s always right, of course.
Seeing the inevitable in my pursuit
Of the extraordinary, that flash,
Instantaneous Brilliance
Followed with life lived
Big
Wild
Satisfying.

Does it matter
I’ve used up all the chances
In my biographical inventory,
Wasted every miracle counted
In that cloud-bound book that kept
Me whole?
I insist the guarantee,
The incandescence
Will reseed my soul
I’ll be
“In the moment,”
Again.
Charlene James
Amissville, Virginia
11/7/18