_74. Catalog of a Life-Lover

Maybe you will sit making a list of things
you love about the world
one afternoon in a coffeeshop full of women,
writing first on the list “coffee,”
then “women.”
And by the time you’ve gotten
to “early October in Rotchester” you’ll wonder
what you’ve been doing with your life,
your whole, uninterrupted existence.
You’ll think you should have spent
more time on overnight trains (#237),
but also sleeping outdoors (#120)
and certainly having sex (#17).
17? You’ll surprise yourself, it took
16 other things? But you could not stop
yourself from waiting until you remembered
the phrase to do it justice,
the whole body of the term
as you read in a book once:
“the endless exploration, the ancient
discovery, the long flight
to the new world.”^[1]

[1] Cf. Ursula K LeGuin, “Forgiveness Day”