morning routine

every day, somehow,
I wake up,

drag myself in front of the bathroom mirror

to wash my teeth,

and as I carefully apply the toothpaste,

I dare a few glances at the man opposite me.

the man who could have been anything,

but only reached up to here.

I usually try to not think about him;

he responds in kind.

I open the cupboard on the mirror's side

for some floss, an earbud, the nail clipper, the sunscreen lotion,

and I see that shelf again,

the shelf with all the useless stuff,

the lens fluid, the hairbands, the tampons

- your shelf.

I wonder if I should do something about it.

if I should let you know

it's still your shelf,

in the same way

that you are still yourself.

I dare one final glance

at the stranger in the mirror

and close the cupboard.

another day has begun.

______

morning routine by Dimitrios Kokkinos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

gratitude

(from the first note

that broke the eternal silence

turning everything

into every single thing.

from the specs of dust

that stuck together

to form one special, blue sphere

supporting life.

from the warm rays of the sun

that helped a tiny seed grow

into a magnificent,

generous tree.)

I take a big bite

from a fresh,

juicy apple.

(to my teeth that break it down,

to my tongue that feels its taste,

to my stomach that makes sure

nothing useful goes to waste.

to my heart that keeps on pumping,

even when I’m left alone.

to my soul that keeps on searching,

for a place that feels like home.)

______

gratitude by Dimitrios Kokkinos is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License