loose connections

I did some writing today and tried
not to think of you, or of the knot
in a pink plastic skipping-rope
that made it break when I was six.

I tried to think, instead, of lemons
and hula hoops, of being surprised
by joy and what it was like to be

just

to be

and I thought about trips to confectionaries
with nickels in sweaty palms and I thought about
knitted afghans (not
Afghanistan -- unravelled skeins and cold beds)

or the subtle difference between
humming and hummingbirds.

Between (less subtle)
Hummers and hummus.