Handyman Therapy
The giant warehouse aisles have swallowed me whole.
An orange apron comes to my “rescue”
flashing his customer service smile.
“How can I help?”
He looks safe enough.
I don’t see a condescending smirk.
So I abandon my usual rescue-resistant
“I’m fine thank you” response.
I decide to trust him.
“I need to get a blackout shade”
The drone of “cellular roller roman wood faux-wood vertical strings no strings”
immediately makes me regret my decision
whoa, TMI!
I just need the kind that make the room dark, like really dark,
and definitely no strings, absolutely no strings.
did he say roman though, that sounds kinda cool
Just to be clear, I’m not afraid of the dark
I see it all the time when I close my eyes
I have a broken movie projector in my mind.
might be because of my ADHD, but I don’t think so, huh, I should google that
I mean I always have slept on the side of the bed farthest
from the window so I didn’t think it was a problem,
not as dark there.
Man, I remember the night that I slept on the wrong side of the bed
you know the one farthest from the exit, I mean the door.
Took me five years to get up the courage, you know divorce and all.
Maybe that is why I couldn’t sleep that night because I was too close to
the window?
huh, never thought of that
I’ve never considered escaping through a window. Is that an option?
Windows are for opportunities, right? Not for escape, the whole
open windows, shut doors kind of thing. I mean if I had a blackout shade,
I definitely couldn’t go through the window even if it was an option. Right?
You know I used to stare out the window sometimes when I did dishes
daydreaming about where I would go and how I would get there.
But that was a long time ago, well I still daydream out windows,
but no more sides of the bed. Now I sleep in a single bed so
there is no wrong side — yay — its all mine!
Sad commentary on my love life, I know. But the bright neon
light of the exit sign is gone now, so that’s good.
Perhaps that also has something to do with my not-so love life? Huh?
Don’t think I should be talking to you about that. Sorry, TMI.
Anywho, I haven’t slept in forty years or so. That’s why I’m here.
Can you help me find a blackout shade? Is it shade or blind?
His glassy eyes blink, “either one.”
Blind seems more appropriate.
Today’s poem is a commentary on how my ADHD mind can find therapeutic catharsis even in a hardware store. If you monologue long enough, you come to the answers.
Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is “This one takes its inspiration from Yentl van Stokkum’s poem, “It’s the Warmest Summer on Record Babe,” which blends casual, almost blasé phrasing with surreal events like getting advice from a bumblebee. In your poem today, try writing with a breezy, conversational tone, while including at least one thing that could only happen in a dream.”
Source: https://www.napowrimo.net/go/