Still Life With Prairie Dogs

Seize the Day is a sentiment thought up by a man.
Mostly, the day seizes me, and gives me a hard shake.
So I’ve decided on a new way to get through a day.
Picture prairie dogs.
Really.
Imagine the day as a field filled with prairie dogs,
always another head popping up.
Don’t seize a thing because that’s when they bite.
Instead, take off you shoes. Stretch your pinched toes,
whisper to your fingers that they can choose not to clench.
Remind your jaw, too.
Walk through the grass. Peek into the holes
where the prairie dogs, suddenly shy, have hidden.
Give them what they demand. It’s only time, after all,
the time a man with a pen would tell you to wrestle to your will.
Relax into the opposite of seize, and the pester of prairie dogs calms.
Later, together, you can watch the sun set over your shared field
while somewhere, some man writes advice in Latin.