Kindness is like
Pushing a swing

Action, reaction,
Kindness is

Late at night
On my third wind
I am exactly calm enough
To believe my own thoughts
So to write
A poem,
And exactly nervous enough
To end the poem
Before I ruin it.

Beep. 
Beep.
Beep.

When you ask me
How are you today?
Across the steady flowing river of barcodes
You want nothing from me
My robotic response:
“good”

I'm compelled to tell you that I am angry
I missed the bus this morning
I am grocery shopping
Which is not fun
And you are out of my favorite brand of deodorant

You do not look at me
You do not care
I do not care
I am swimming upstream
In and around milk cartons
And sticks of margarine

Beep. 
Beep.

To say it's 2 O'clock
Feels like an insult
To 1:58
And even more of one
To 1:57
Which is often called
1:55 or 2
So much can happen in 3 minutes
I am so sorry
You are overlooked

Finger picking
My acoustic guitar
In the dark
By the breezy window
Steady shoulders
Naked.