The Odd-day Motto

Today is not a day to make beds

*Photo of our (late) first adopted elder cat, Baby.

The Odd-day Motto

Today

is not a day

to make beds

(I knew it the minute

I woke up).

Today

is not a day

for the order of things,

erudition or ponderous

philosophies—

Today

I shall live

a mess on purpose.

I wrote this poem many years ago, and the older I get, the more sense it makes to me. Perhaps that is also why my grammie, Nancy Anne, pinned this silly little poem onto her fridge until it was nothing but a faded paper scrap. She understood that some days are odd days out.

Sometimes life gets to be overwhelming, and smiling in person and curating sparklestars online feels painfully performative while cinders pile up in the mind and heart. This poem is a reminder to myself that it is all right to have days where you just don’t try.

You rest.

You let the bed stay unmade. Wrinkles and chaos are inescapable, after all! And while it might mean life is imperfect and messy sometimes, rest is a raft, and that is worthy of our effort, too.