On Avoidance

On Avoidance
My to-do checklist
multiplies like protozoa
osmosises and mitosises into
      things to procure
      things to discard
      debts to pay
      mundane tasks
The list glares at me from my phone
      an unblinking eye
            a high pitched tinnitus of
            adult obligations.
      so I subvert my list,
            add nonsense:

• "sit in the sun: five minutes."
• "sample 3 kinds of chocolate."
• "draw a seabird."
• "sketch a mad genius."

So between the sandpaper-on-bone tasks

      of "callthebank"

I can dutifully check off whimsey

accomplish nonsense

procrastinate responsibly

      and with great satisfaction

            avoid the doing by doing

      and play a counter-harmony

            on the vacuum-drone of my 

                  adult life. 

(This is another poem prompt I gave my students in-class. We read Grace Paley's "The Poet's Occasional Alternative" about the poet avoiding writing poetry by baking a pie because sometimes it's too hard to do something that won't please everybody, that might never find an audience. But... everybody likes pie! I gave them the prompt: write about what you avoid