Getting Ready for a Trip

This poem was written before I was leaving for Phoenix, AZ, to visit my mother a couple of weeks ago. The last couple days of my life have had to do with taxes and financial aid forms, and I just have not had a good poem in my head for taxes yet!

Getting Ready for a Trip

It’s the usual, 30 minutes ‘til I have to walk out the door
and my suitcase is not yet packed, the rabbit bowls are empty,
the litter box is dirty, the bills are unpaid, I’m not sure when
the bus leaves from the station, I wonder if I’ll forget my
boarding pass and I won’t make it to the coffee shop
to say good-bye to my sweetheart before I go. It’s the usual,
alright, as I look outside and see the birdfeeder needs filling,
and I can’t leave, knowing the birds would be hungry, so I
go outside to fill it, and there are so many dirty dishes on
the kitchen counter, and I hate coming back to a dirty house,
and the garbage needs to be emptied, the compost stinks,
I forgot to tell the painter what color I want the bathroom
and the paper I was supposed to have finished at work is not
It’s the usual alright, and I know I have to pack, because now it
is less than 20 minutes until I must walk out the door, knowing
that I have forgotten something important, because I always do.