Maxianne Berger
♩one of these things is not♩♫♫
Never mind that black comes in a variety of shades. Never mind that some socks are knee-length, while others only reach mid-calf. Never mind the ankle socks. Never mind that the feet spread any which width. Never mind that the cuffs are different styles of knit.
For years I did mind. Week after week, wash after wash, I carefully measured heel up and heel down, used good light to compare the cuff weave, the heel turns, the insteps, the gussets. It’s something I absolutely needed to do. But today…
Today, as we approach the winter of our lives, it’s high time I overcome this obsession. No more sweating over the possibility of insteps not aligning, of a double-rib mating with a single rib, of socks getting mis-matched like drunks at some fishbowl car-key party. I won’t mind. Not me. I’m not compulsive. Not obsessive. Not neurotic. Not anymore.
whatever they say about no two flakes presbyopia
About the Author
Montrealer Maxianne Berger co-edited Cirrus: tankas de nos jours for six years with Mike Montreuil. She writes book reviews for Tanka Canada’s Gusts, and coordinates them for Haiku Canada Review.
Futility of fussing over trifling should manifest during the autumn of our lives. Still, I watch my 78 year old mother hoarding rubber bands and plastic bags from the groceries we buy. “Who knows what’s needed when…”, she justifies.
The prose is immersive. Ku shines with its link and shift from the prose. Quite a learning for me, on the craft, that is.
thank you, Tapan. for some of us, not fussing is difficult 😉 .. it took me a lot of will power .. yet the same fussiness goes into writing .. ☺ .. Maxianne