Hey Mike
a typical day in my life, written just over a year ago
Article voiceover
Hey Mike I wake with the wailing of my baby I pull an oddly shaped body up Then snooze while he nurses Clamor quietly for slippers Get the dishes out up and away Check error logs and emails Red circles count obligations Yawning A total of six nipples in the dishwasher Lower back complains; press myself against The counter and hope for a pop The microwave's silent End, emblazoned The machine of forgetting Thoughts do their pummeling Eight hundred millisecond delay, then palpitate Entre pensamientos Vivimos He chews the Bluetooth speaker As Parts spins and reverberates Diaper change, severe ear pain Feed him eggs just above room temp Then she's up, first word is No I am disappointment just now Obsess over artistic singularity Dress her, bless her heart, drive her not far Alexis and Derek in the car She's up too, coffee and planning Gets him down amongst full spectrum Hushing Emails from Github, doubled Hey Mike, can you— I clean, I set to spin, I fold An anxious garbage collector Phone buzzes, a DM Hey Mike, whenever you get a chance— Six hours from now, I take her to dance But for now, shattered sparseness Inhabit the house, all of it Zenhub, tasks, checklists, tests Meet with externals, quickly draining Standup, huddle Edit reports, review her Code He's up, he's screaming Headphones or intervening Hey Mike, can you— Check Reddit Blocked on /etc/hosts; that was me File ticket, assign to me It's Wednesday No poetry For five days Mike I need— Yogurt, peanuts Distraction, kind of Bathroom, flush Kitchen, garage, leash, harness Walk, block, sun, sweat By Friday she'd like to submit Give estimates, edit it Verse by Rux in my head Oh Miguel— Dance as promised, ask for Zoom link Get back, open door, aromatic garlic Hey Mike can you grab— Dinner, breakneck pace Screaming while I clean his face She presses our bodies, exhausted Start the bath water Clean their bodies I asked you to stop Close eyes, moment's peace Dry them off, fight over timer He wails again, then she takes him I want mama Mama read book Pass them around, get them down Back to the kitchen, grab a top shelf tenner Briefly guilty, hit the couch Throw something on Dolphin screensaver Hey babe, what snack we havin Heave the old cuerpo up again Throw some kernels in the pan Salt em and nosh, then she goes to bed Walk the pooch, podcast on Abiogenesis, brush teeth and then Hit the sack and do it all over again
This poem first went out on May 15, 2023.
A day Lilly flower painted by your son captured the essence seen with colors supreme. Hope you frame this art work as your poem captured the hectic pace of family life. Summer is here. Stop and pick flowers, run in a field. Give son more crayons to color the world with peace of mind. He sees beauty.
You will look back at this as the decades go by and marvel how you survived. But… we all do.