routines

it ain’t much
my workspace at office
a little desk
tucked in a corner

a SKÅDIS board
with shelves for my pens
books, note pads, and other stationery
a decent size monitor
a speaker to stream music
a clock
five posters
two bookshelves
an a few books
which I dip into
at the end of a long bruising day

half a chapter from
Sohini’s history of athletes

and these days
a poem or two
from Akhil’s latest
about love and heartbreak
as tragedies unfold
about fresh beginnings
about music, rain
about hope

and sometimes
I walk the streets
of Katherine’s Washington
and wonder
whatever has happened
to her baby ten

fifteen minutes
of a reading ritual
before heading home
like some kind of
decompression routine
providing enough strength
to brave the stormy seas
of Sakinaka