The Little Things

Some days
I miss tying shoelaces
much more
than wearing shoes.

But if I had shoes big enough for me to fill
my skin is so hard
I'd wear the insides down to the sole
not the other way round.

Never mind that my fingers
as dexterous as cucumbers
could never tie laces.
The four of us forget the little things.

Like writing.
I'm a scientist with a PhD
yet I hold a pen
buried in the middle of a fist.

Only metal pens
everything else snaps
even the strongest things
break sometimes under pressure.

Saving the world
has become normal
fitting into the world
is too fantastic a feat.

-- The Thing
    Four Freedoms Plaza