Too Many and Not Enough
The problem of too many and not enough
Is complex and simple
Silent and raucous.
Too many books, stories, albums, shows
Not enough months, weeks, days or hours
Leisure: a first-world problem.
Minutes collapse under
Weight of expectation
Too many, not enough.
She cries with her whole face now,
Lips stretching to accommodate
The agony of Earth’s limitations.
A curious brain sharpening:
She finds all of her books…
Takes each one
From the bottomless bin
(Recently purchased)
Holds each for a few seconds
Releases and then catches
The next.
If we cannot pause her here:
May we select “slow-motion?”
Perhaps for one week or two
Until she resumes
Her climbing and bouncing
Her stomp-walks.
The fierce creature
Ravenous tummy
Endlessly examining
Each round smooth stone
(Too big to bite) turned over
Considered for a second
Then dropped
Unlike the stuffed pals
Who sneak up behind her
To say, “Good morning!”
