How to Live

I didn’t make it past how to—Google
interrupting with fill-ins—who knew

the most pressing quest is how to tie
a tie? People everywhere, it seems,

confounded by the length of slippery
silk, by life somehow insisting

on loops, tugs, knots at the throat,
when all I’d been searching for

was how to eat mussels, the specialty
of the bistro my husband and I

are dining at tonight, where, it turns out,
in front of the steaming black bowl,

I can just do what I see everyone
else doing—use a shell to pluck

the tastes of ocean and butter,
as I look at my husband and think

about ties—the maddening adjustments,
alignments, that drive to achieve

a certain ideal. And yet, it’s so easy—
loosening the pressure—already

knowing how to lean across the table,
to grab a kiss, to take that gamble.

 

Christine Rhein, autumnskypoetrydaily.com January 10, 2024