Nothing better to do

Nothing better to do

Gulls standing in shallow water

Leaning against the rail of the Kaw River Bridge

How should I spend my time?

Why should I not spend my time

thinking about you?

I could be leaning against the railing

of the Kaw River Bridge,

gulls standing in shallow water.

From this distance

they are bigger than grains of salt,

occasionally one flaps it’s wings

for a second or two,

but does not take off.

It stands in the shallow water

a while longer.

Looking at the sky,

the patterns in the clouds,

the colors can be breathtaking.

But how long can I watch the jet contrails

evaporate into thin blue air

or waves inches high lap against

the sandbar too far away to see

more than a sand-colored line against the water –

the water reflecting the sky?

I think I thought of you in between other

thoughts so I wouldn’t spend time

I don’t know how to keep anyway

unnecessarily.

There were minutes waiting for the light to change.

I ignored the sun setting for the billionth time.

I could have had some free time

waiting for the pasta water to boil,

but instead I used it to put away yesterday’s dishes

from where they had drained dry.

I have managed to pick up spare moments,

in the afternoon and evening

but something else always catches my gaze.

Perhaps tonight when it is dark and quiet,

I’ll find an hour or two just to think of you.

I’ll remember how you looked in my mind

when I was leaning against the rail

of the Kaw River Bridge and how I pointed to

the silly gulls standing in shallow water

in front of the island.

You were at that very moment walking across

a different bridge. Perhaps we were thinking

nearly the same thoughts. How blue is the sky?

Why are we so far apart?