I was raised
reading lists
food additives
dictionaries
medications' side effects
dizziness headaches
kidney dysfunction
my first list
was simple
what I'd never
do as a parent
making lists
is what I do best
aside from
crying and brooding
impulsively acting on feelings
then feeling remorse
or not
I make lists
of past hurts big and small
of scars real and imagined
lists of everything
that could go wrong
this is not a poem
about shortcomings
just an honest day's list
disjointed disconnected
and displaced
I want to make lists
for my husband my son
my siblings my friends
they decline
the problem is the way lists
go on and on and on
and all this anxiety
over who will finish them
once I'm gone
-- Pam Wynn
