producing make-believe

eyes blurring, it is time to stop

editing between a somewhat final

version by the publisher

the sensitivity reader’s suggestions

and my earlier proofing

but it is dawning on me

that we may be on the last lap

producing Exhalation

plagued again and again by illness

editor after editor experiencing

delays due to sickness in this real world

far more important than the production

date of my world of make-believe

random interactions

random interactions

like brownian movement

but an illusion as each participant

has a goal – somewhere to go

each jostles another, and another

pushed, shoved, knocked

out of alignment into a different route

randomly dislocated, delayed

within the sun, photons may take

millions of years to emerge to shine

from sol’s surface

or at airports, travelers lose minutes, hours, getting to the long lines to be

cabined, cribbed, confined by zigzag

tape to inch forward, wait, inch forward

to be checked by customs before being

spilled into the chaos beyond

and the lines shuffling onto the plane

to get home for Christmas with family

purpose, but, being part of a multitudinous whole, finding

no direct way to fulfill that purpose

                        mjNordgren  12/25/2022  Omaha