Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

First, let me mention that I have a poem online this week in the Texas Poetry Journal. It's the featured poem for this week, and I'm not certain if they archive it after that.

Unfortunately, they mistakenly repeated the title as the first line, but otherwise it's accurate. It's one of my favorite poems and was one of the most fun to write.

No matter how late I stay up, I'm incapable of sleeping in beyond about 10:30. I know this because lately I've been taking a lot of late night work, which has been messing with my sleep schedule.

The weather has been strange, too, alternating between chilly and hot, between rainy or overcast and clear. Of course, it seems to rain every day I need to mail something, the one consistency in the weather.

On rainy days, I don't walk my dog, Una, because we both hate getting wet. She looks at me mournfully when I try to make her go outside. Sometimes, I have to nudge her more than once. I think she'd be happy with a litter box, if they designed one for dogs.

The late hours put the wrench in me going to the gym this morning, the way I like to do on Wednesdays or Thursdays. But at least I can always do my exercise tapes at home.

I don't actually like sleeping in, because I feel as if I'm missing half the day. So that's why, if I get up and look at the clock and it seems a reasonable hour, I'll get up.

Today is a strange day: cool but not chilly. The sky is gray but it's not raining. While on our walk, Una and I passed a group of boys in school uniforms, talking loudly — for my benefit, it seemed — about how they like to cut class. Something about the way they were joking made me think they weren't actually cutting class but were off on some school related independent assignment. Either that or this was their first attempt ever at cutting, and they were proud.

Even in their school uniforms, something about them said "geek."

I don't know how, but Una managed to get mud on my jacket sleeve. She probably stepped on it when it was draped across the chair near the door, when we came in on a muddy morning.

That's one disadvantage to having a light colored jacket: dirt really shows on it. But it's got a distinct advantage, too, zip-up pockets, which are great while walking dogs. You can be certain not to lose anything when you bend over to pick things up.

Fortunately, the squirrels also seem confused by the weather. They haven't been as active this week. I get to walk my dog without being yanked all over the place.

Earlier this week, I took care of the insurance for my truck, canceling it. They're supposed to mail a check for me for the amount prepaid for the rest of the year. It will go towards taxes, a constant worry.

Little by little, the many things that have been hanging over my head, causing me anxiety, are being resolved.

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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