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cracking variations

Crack of dawn is when we get up and the clouds are still pink, which
means sailors take warning; my grandparents had a thermometer in the
hall that was supposed to predict all kinds of sailor's moods ("Its
colors turn to pink you'll see for rain and high humidity"), and sailors
aside I am  standing at the tram stop shivering for the coat I was
right to leave behind because it will get hot later. Crack must have
been smoked to make me leave the house this early; I am a morning person
but a girl ought to know her limits. Which is four. In the a.m. A crack
team was assembled to go on a mission, or not really so much a mission
as just a regular trip to the cottage. Cracks are what we saw on the
train, though there are so many
ankle-length dresses everywhere, even at 5 in the morning with backpacks
the Czech ladies go in style so there are these modesty dresses and
also
these low slung jeans, with more summer in the city cleavage than even I
like to see so early in the day, and I feel old. When we get where
we're going I sleep for five hours straight, or more like jagged, with
moments of pulling up from the marshy water of dreams to crack my eyes
open and wave faintly and then I was dragged back under. It's been a
difficult week. Crack is the sound of the whip I put to my own back and
said get up, do something, nobody likes you when you're lazy. Crack all
ten knuckles and then chop some wood, carry some water, try to be less
useless. Crack is what must be done to the code of language, of what did
you mean when you said that, of when we discussed this for an hour last
night what did you think we were talking about, of responsibility and
neglect. Or not neglect but more like not caring. Or not not caring but
like, momentarily being distracted by something else more important than
anything I have to say. I'm not saying the birds aren't adorable, I'm
saying… well, never mind. Cracked is what happened to the eggs and then yesterday the babies flew away.
Cracked is the safe that was my heart. On the plus side, sometimes you
crack me up. There's always a plus side, and you can get there by
traveling carefully lightly watching your step. Between the cracks.

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