Page 41 of The Secret to Belonging

know all of Asia, but not Scandinavia)

you press one finger on Norway

another on California

you realize

the shortest distance

would be a straight line

drilled

through the center of the earth

like Dante

progressing through hell

in the morning

you only know it’s morning

because the clock says it’s morning

the sky looks as bright

as it did last night

you panic

what if the clock batteries died?

what if you’ve slept through the afternoon?

then you hear feet

clattering down the stairs

voices laughing

morning sounds

in the kitchen you’re greeted

with smiles and cheers

a cup of tea is offered

on a saucer trimmed in blue

a breakfast of oatmeal

with cinnamon and sugar

milk in a box decked

with green and pink clover