I have a new entry for today, after all, the result of a pre-reading workshop with Judith Skillman at BookTree in Kirkland.

(I probably should not make such assumptions
but the way you saunter about
makes me think that is the case)

I don’t know why I’m always drawn to your sort
(Opus notwithstanding)
but I’m never as interested in the primates
or the pachyderms
or the bored-looking giraffes

No, you seem to have more fun

That day at the Ueno Park zoo
it was as though you could barely contain yourself
as you waddled up the ramp
and dived into the pool

I’d like to think you’d have been spending your day this way
even if it weren’t 92 degrees with 84 percent humidity
on a sunny August afternoon

The telltale grey that distinguished you
from your penguin brethren (and sistren)
didn’t even enter your mind as a consideration

All that mattered was the dive
and the water

Ah, the water…

(17 June 2017)