The Riot Act

Quit your yearning
your longing
your pining
your wishing
and hoping
your turning around
and looking back over one shoulder
slowly
in the falling golden afternoon light
while wondering
who is watching you
doing that
with a yearning of their own

What is the nature of
your particular void
and what is the medium
you best like to fill it with
food, or drink, or
god help us all
attention

it is such
simple math
and the laws of
conservation of mass
don't apply here
get that?
you will never
fill your hole
and make a whole
that way

sit down
in your ordinary chair
at your ordinary table
on a Monday
at lunchtime
and eat a sandwich
and be pleased
to be there
and don't mind it
that no one is admiring
the slow way you
thoughtfully chew
the way your carefully touch
your fingers
to your brow
lost in
important thought
just eat the sandwich
the act of it
the sandwich
is enough.