jacarandas are good punctuation

by Josh Cake

good punctuation is a pause that improves the sentence

but most days I don't have time to pause

I don't have time to improve

and I certainly don't have time for sentence structure

because I have things to do

I am sentenced to a life

that is heavy in its sentience

and walking is wasted on me

a wise walker packs the essentials:

a curious nose,

hopeful ears,

hungry eyes

this morning, as usual, I forgot these,

but I did remember everything else!

every heavy distress that presses down my chest

I emptied every mess in my lengthy shelves of stress

and came back for more

choices and frowns and cares

hoisted them down the stairs

and out my front door

I hate to make two trips

so I fit every bag along my forearms and wrists

and all ten fingers,

and triumphantly drag myself inside

only to find

I am a tangled fool who cannot release anything

I lift my stresses the same way:

pick them up until I can't put them down,

and the plastic loops tighten with gravity and time,

strangling my fingers like ten infant turtles

into ten crimson purple

tips ballooning with blood that cannot turn back

this morning,

nose shut, ears shut, eyes shut,

I was not properly walking

just dragging heavy things from point A to point B

with no point but the way I was pointed,

the world my formless treadmill

as I thought of every heavy thing to open dread

shaking rocks through sieves in hope of bread

then a soft carpet surprised my feet,

the footpath padded, revised and neat,

and I looked down at the little lawn of shedded purple petals,

and I looked up at the branches where they had grown up before they settled

as I stood there, clutching my heavy things,

the tree dropped a petal,

to show me how it is done.

so I let go of my heavy things

and began to walk

and my nose swayed through rain and trees and coffee,

and my ears pounced at every bird caw and every tram door,

and my eyes did purple somersaults,

and walking wasn't wasted on me any more

jacarandas are good punctuation:

a pause that improves the sentence.