Quotidian

an ordinary day
early awakening
bacon and coffee made by 6am
sitting at my desk sorting
poems i've written over the years
aspirations of a book
which ones are good, which bad

my wife comes out of the bedroom
she's carrying a filter from the air cleaner
"just look at this black soot"
sliding her finger down the metal
"good morning to you" my reply

we sit down to talk
workplace equality a topic on my mind
though in a male-dominated industry
she's found great success
tell me why
long story short
"Do your job and excel"

Now the hard talk
"what do you want from the store?"
it's a painful topic
much like, "where do you want to go eat?"
today she was ready
getting back on the diet so

the store is a confusing place
there's something wrong with people
they move in inchmeal motion
more than eight second delay
at the checkout slowly loading
groceries onto the belt
watching as the cashier scans
then comes to the total
they act surprised that they have to pay
and just begin fumbling for money

i get angry at these behaviors
i'm not sure if it's my own impatience
or the greater concern of society's demise
either way i'm frustrated on my drive home
what's going to become of us
what has happened to our brains
how will we ever become more
if this status quo

i just cooked some ground beef
added a little taco seasoning
chicken thighs in the oven
preparing the component's for lunches this week
another pot of coffee
a load of laundry started
it's now 11:49am

sitting at my desk
a stack of poems by my side
process starting over again
just an ordinary day
just an ordinary man
and in closing i wonder if
I'll ever be
extraordinary