Don’t you feel it? That urge to just sit

and exist?

Patio season does that to me.

A red umbrella and half-wilted, potted flowers grab

my gaze. Draw me in.

Pour me a cold kombucha in a glass and I’ll just

sit here. I’ll just exist.

Sip, slide

my flip-flops off my feet.

Watch the yellow jackets curl/rub their spindly

front legs (…arms?) together.

Flinch

when one hovers under my left eyelid.

Soften my spine against the slats

of a chair. Wooden, smooth.

I am held. I am breezed over. Wafted

by shadows. Just out of reach of the sun.

This patio puts me at peace.

This

is existing. I am existing. I am.