Mostly, I make lists; some numbered some with bullets—all sorts. I put checkmarks next to completed items. Later, I’ll put a circle around my checkmark and then another, bigger circle around that circle and slowly
shade it in while drinking coffee and smoking heavily; staring steadily at my glorious list. Never a completed object, unless it leafs an offspring a smaller list that’s lost a few things from turning pages and has yet to
gain the elaborate shading of time. Time, spent contemplating its most important objects. An underline enters the equation and suddenly it has grown into a page revisited, now there’s a doodle in the left hand margin; a tattoo that reads:
I was here, without having to say it outright and older items start to show up from the patriarchal pages. He becomes a list of many past lists; revealing patterns and renewed beginnings. Patiently waiting for that final moment when nothing will appear on his
list, and then other hands will form a faded circle that surround this faithful checkmark and all-together singing, slowly—shade it in.
-- Chris Wood is a life-long resident of the Hudson Valley region of New York State where he hosts and participates in various music and literary events. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Heyday Magazine, occasionally sleeps a few hours every other Thursday, converses with woodland creatures, and enjoys devouring deep poetry and coffee.