salad, helper, okay

three new little poems:

we could eat a salad

we could eat a salad quietly or in silence

or i could tell you why we shouldn't

or why i'd rather feel okay than happy

and i could think about the importance of having a calm demeanor

in the face of something like monetary uncertainty

while i pile dishes in the sink

and how being able to achieve and maintain something

is one way to function acceptably as a human being

good little helper

you feel bad and then feel bad about yourself

for having felt bad, so when i use practical language

to make you understand something overlooked

or my hand to slow your pulse

you call me your good little helper

and for some reason it makes sense to kiss your cheek

and then move a table-top photograph a few inches to the left

it would be okay

on bikes with you in the sun if there was a breeze

and the sky seemed big then and later at night

if we could see orion's belt and you could undo mine

and we could find a silver marker, even if we just met

we'd feel calm around each other

and not have to talk for a long time walking down the street

until eventually you'd say something about being alive

and i would like the words you used and the order you put them in