By David A. Kirschenbaum

Jan. 1

set clothes out
shower
put clothes away

Jan. 2

(sing)

brown rice takes 45 minutes on a simmering flame
but there's still water on the bottom, just the same
turn up from a simmer to a low flame
smell burning from the other room
should of kept it simmering, raised it up too soon

Jan. 3

waiting on deadlines
for work to do
i'm all caught up on everything
boo hoo hoo hoo

Jan. 4

(sing)

i'll walk through the cold just for you
it's something for most i wouldn't ever do
i'm missing two buttons on my leather jacket
my scarf isn't helping much, not at all

Jan. 5

i'm not sure if she's reading to me
or just repeating what she's heard so many times before
but i'm sure how cute she is
as she burns through three books in four avenues
on the m23 eastbound

Jan. 6

every time i call my cable company they say,
"we want to thank you mr. kirschenbaum
for being an rcn customer for 12 years at this address"
and i'm feeling a bit guilty for switching to time warner
but what are you going to do.

Jan. 7

the nurse who scanned my scrotom
spent more time than i thought she needed to
but that's ok

Jan. 8

after another time cooking pasta
this time ziti noodles to go with tuna salad and cut up broccoli,
i keep remembering how i need olive oil
because no matter how frequently you stir
the pasta always stick to the pan and each other.

Jan. 9

won't you please stretch my arm
wait it's kind of hurting me
i mean you say it's going to help me, right?
i guess that i do believe you,
i mean i'm pretty sure you wouldn't lie to me, right?

Jan. 10

i don't wanna overwhelm my recipients,
don't want to get "please remove me from your list" emails,
because we all like numbers,
we all need numbers,
and being discouraged is the type of being i just don't like to be.