11:11 PM The Middle Distance

If, and I'm only saying if, we could
Delight always in the unexpected,

Even the slightest or the traumatic,
Life would have so much charm,

Because every damn day twists
Some way unexpectedly,

Usually before a body can fully wake:
That strange, howling dog in small hours,

The toddler's nightmare and demand
To share a bed with her parents,

The way the coffee tastes, the way
The weather forecast turned out wrong,

The thing you were sure would work,
The thing you were sure wouldn't,

The injury that turned things upside down,
The chance meeting that averted a crisis--

Most often, the places you pass through
Or activities you do that aren't so strange,

Just not what you would have guessed,

And then of course, that one twist, death.

You don't know what you'll be doing
By 9am tomorrow morning, no,

Not even if everything goes
According to schedule, rare enough.

Look up at the little bend in the long rise

This moment as you read and, maybe,

Think of some old poet ascending

To heaven by the staircase of surprise.