by Ayesha Siddiqui

Burdens
Sometimes the small burdens of life press on you over and over, are we out of coffee, I forgot to get the paper towels that I left the house to get what have I even been doing for two hours, the air conditioning is broken, I said something stupid in that meeting didn’t I, and then my god what a joy it is when something small but magnificent bursts through, like birdsong in the morning or you look up to stare at a friend you love and they are there, you call a parent and you’re fortunate enough to have their voice on the other end, and the fragility of it all, knowing that it might be a long time before another moment like this comes to pass, but my god the joy of having it ever so briefly now. I have glanced out my window to see the stucco walls of the adjacent apartment building, sun filtered through leaves making a painting on the wall, the grandmother who lives across from me always rotating her plants inside and out and I get to bask in the warm light of her fiddle leaf ferns today and I want to knock on her door and say thank you, thank you, you do not know this but I soak in every color of the flowers and leaves you place out, I do not miss these things, please may I trade places with your fiddle leaf fern. I long to be turned towards the sun.

Prescriptive
Have you tried the following:
Listening for birds when you wake
Looking into a dog’s eyes
Hot coffee and a morning to drink it
Letting an elder go first
Reminding you to slow down
Have you tried the following:
This one is prescriptive but
Cocteau Twins and driving
Touching trees as you pass
I like to think they enjoy it
Some days when I’m
Having a hard time
I try to remember this list.