An Understated Day

 

Today is one of those understated days.

Sometimes a day turns out that way.

You can feel it when you wake in the

morning even before the day has even

had a chance—boring, routine, nothing

out of the ordinary, understated.

Why, even the designated name, Tuesday,

seems so bland and ordinary. Not at the

week’s beginning or the end, but an un-

derstated, milk-toast muddled mass, not

even fairly middlin’ for Christ’s sake.

Today, your old age aches and pains aren’t

enough to fuss about. Nothing new on the

news to bitch about or praise. Same old,

same old broadcast on the radio. Coffee

black as usual, dog poops the same.

You’ve read these poems dozens of times

before. You may as well have copied last

weeks grocery list, item for item, bologna,

V8 and prune juice, everything’s the same.

Just yesterday you complained about

change and wished everything would

just remain the same. You’ve claimed

to rely upon your daily routine, and now

here it is…today, an understated day.

It’s amazing you can describe under-

stated in so many different ways.

And then the phone rings. Who in hell

could that possibly be at this hour in

the morning? You refuse to answer and

accept the possibility that the under-

stated day will somehow change.

Screw it! You decide to watch Pawn

Stars reruns on TV. No matter how

many times you see it, you still don’t

understand how they could pay good

money for an old, used G.I. Joe?

It’s like wearing the same olive drab

fatigues every day.

For all it’s worth, can anything as

mundane as that ever be understated?

I contend, not unless it remains

unsaid.

               -30-

Chris Hanch 10-13-2020