All day in job interviews
I am tired, so I retire
Run from the hotel
To the restaurant
10 below wind child
Wind stings my face
Out of breath, I sit down
Small talk with the beautiful young waitress
She brings my shabu shabu
Steam rises from my soup

              And disappears.

Taxi to the Museum of Fine Arts
All afternoon
The portraits of John Singer Sargent
(yes, Catteleya, they are beautiful indeed)

As I  prepare for my winterwalk home
I stop for 37 silent seconds in front of the museum

And I Appeal to the Great Spirit.