1. Wake up before dawn because it’s the only quiet time in the day.
2. Wake everyone else up. Get out of bed.
3. Make all the your beds.
4. Make yourself coffee before making everyone else’s breakfast.
5. Pack lunches.
6. Pick up last night’s mess.
7. Drive to school, then work.
8. Work in the small quiet office where everyone knows not to bother or interrupt you.
9. Eat dinner leftovers, apple slices, and cheese for lunch.
10. Rush to finish work early despite trying to take your time.
11. Leave work early for school pickup.
12. Pick up the mail. Sort envelopes in piles for each recipient.
13. Make enough dinner for growing bodies and one picky eater.
14. Water the thriving Boston Fern.
15. Read Middlemarch. Again.
16. Go to bed late because your dreams are the only boisterous part of your day.
List Poem & Artwork by Amy Marques
Amy Marques grew up between languages and places and learned, from an early age, the multiplicity of narratives. She penned children’s books, barely read medical papers, and numerous letters before turning to short fiction and visual poetry. She is a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net nominee and has work published in journals and anthologies including Streetcake Magazine, MoonPark Review, Bending Genres, Gone Lawn, Ghost Parachute, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Reservoir Road Literary Review. You can read more at https://amybookwhisperer.wordpress.com.
Backwards Trajectory 
One reply on “Too Many Hours”
[…] Paradox Dumb (visual collage poem) & Too Many Hours (list poem) published in Backwards Trajectory […]
LikeLike