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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>I Lost My Ordinary Poem About Ordinary Things<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Somewhere in my Every Day Life<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As I sleep a poem<br>writes itself in my subconscious mind.<br>Hour after hour, <br>my masterpiece takes form.<br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>It’s an ordinary poem about appreciation of<br>life’s discoveries and experiences. Maybe:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>it’s about how the YETI has improved my quality of life,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>my memorable Saturday in 1993 when I was<br>confined to a small house with a senile golden retriever and a cat in heat, or<br>the fine art of serious swiping of Twitter feeds while<br>listening to a cab driver argue with himself about<br>the best strategy for roundabout navigation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The alarm clock announces, “It’s six O’clock a.m.”<br>with all the charm of a screen reader. No time in my<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>morning rituals to Write down<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>dreams. Somewhere in the typical happenings of an<br>ordinary day, my poem is lost.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Stanzas go out with the morning mail, are<br>folded neatly in a secret pocket of my son’s backpack, and<br>slip out the car window as I head west on Hamlin Road.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Lines slide down the drain with the<br>breakfast dishwater, attach themselves to<br>email messages, and walk out the door with my<br>10 and 11 o’clock appointments.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Words are accidentally<br>deleted, swallowed unspoken along with a<br>cafeteria cheese burger and fries, and<br>return home to dictionary.com.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Letters change present tense to<br>past and future and leave<br>nothing for today. And finally,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>that crucial, poignant line break, the one that I<br>tossed and turned over for hours,<br>until I was sure it was In the right place<br>skipped off merrily to the land of the forever lost,<br>snug and secure in the toe of a missing sock.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This leaves one solitary exclamation point<br>to capture the true essence and<br>drive the meaning home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>