This Time, For Sure

By Philip Athans

You’ve made lists
grocery
shopping
to do
baby names
errands
And ignored them for the hour or so it takes
Until they’re lost
Only to be found in a couple weeks
in a pocket
on a table under a book
or under a newer list
a different list
Is it guilt you’re feeling
As you look back over this forgotten list?
or is it regret
disappointment
amusement
Does it make you want to make a new list?
One that, this time,
Will be done?
And isn’t that exactly
What you said about the previous list?

Maybe
The problem is that there is no problem
Without the list
Maybe.

Editor and author Philip Athans has been a driving force behind varied media including Alternative fiction & poetry magazine and Wizards of the Coast. He lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.