Washing Out the Cans
I wish I could convey somehow the overriding sense of uneasiness I have been experiencing lately. Not that I have not always been an un-easy person. I have. But now more so—much more so.
I was watching Robin Williams last night on the Actor’s Studio. I was perfectly in tune with the manic pace of his presentation. His mouth and his body were manic motors describing in a staccato, rapid (rabid) fire freewheeling stream his thoughts. His thoughts connected and disconnected. connecting the dots of his thoughts never seeming to come to the end of the ribbon of thought until his own energy left him stranded and he would slump into the guest’s chair waiting for his body to recoup and let him have another shot at his mind. Like he was self-medicating. Pushing the button on an invisible motor that released juice intravenously more juice more endorphins more speed…the more he jumped and twitched and spit out the thoughts the more juice he got. It was tiring but I could feel it myself. The energy and strung-out-ness of him…of me.
This morning in the tool room
cleaning off the counter top the work bench the tools
the little bits of paper and tin
the leftovers of a project
of a number of projects
the leftovers that I just couldn’t throw away when I should have.
the hose is coiled
the old hose
the one that is almost collapsed in on itself and useless here in
What would they do with that hose in
or in
Would they have a purpose for it?
Would it be treasure found in the garbage dump by the children who pick rags all day
and sell them to the vendors for pennies?
The hot water tank has never been drained
don’t they tell you that you should drain the gunk out of the hot water heater every once in a while?
How often?
Well, I’ve never done it so it must be time.
Perfectly natural. Hose, hot water heater, drain.
Uncoil the hose and lead it out the door.
It has been full of water and it leaks out onto the garage floor like a wounded snake.
Outside the door the empty garbage cans are waiting to be brought in
but they stink.
Hot water heater, hose, hot water, stinking cans.
Perfectly natural.
but not just the two cans that were emptied this morning
what about the recycling cans?
They stink too
line them up on the driveway
all four cans,
detergent, hose, old broom back and forth from the boiler room to the stinking cans
swishing the mucky water around
with the old broom
and the cans come clean and the steam along with the smell of the old cans
escapes into the air.
dump the cans out and run in one more time
into the boiler room for a little more water
open the valve
on the hot water heater and rinse the cans.
dump the rinse water over the edge of the driveway…will the rinse water harm anything?
I don’t think so.
turn the cans over and let them dry.
coil the hose back up and put it next to the hot water heater
it will be good to use one more time
I feel guilty throwing it away
even though I just bought a new one
There is the waste to think about and the landfill and the starving children
picking rags all day who would be happy, I think, to be able to curl up next to the hot water heater
in the boiler room
in place of the hose.
Now on to the books.
It has been an age since I looked at my books.
There are piles of them on the chair next to the table.
I have read most of them but there are a few I haven’t gotten to yet.
Which ones should I put into a box and take to the used bookstore?
Which ones will I want to read again?
It is a huge pile.
I forget--when was the last time I looked through the pile?
I can sort them out on the table but first I have to move the old papers and floppy-disks
out of the way.
I forget what is on half of those disks.
Maybe I should go through them and weed them out.
I have to turn on the computer to do that and find labels and a pen to mark them properly.
I wonder if I have any e-mail?
As long as I am turning on the computer…
No comments:
Post a Comment