To Whom It May Concern:

Please excuse me from the meeting.
I'm feeling small and non-combative.

It's below freezing, so we have no daycare.
The cable box is broken. The satellite

is misaligned. To Whom It May Concern:
The salt on the road crunches like teeth

so I can't make the meeting because
I am using my fingernail to rub

a critical note into the ice
on the neighbor's mailbox.

My tires are spinning in ellipses.
To Whom It May Concern:

My acupuncturist says my Qi
is puny, and the last time we met

someone told me to shut the fuck up.
I hate your monogrammed dress cuffs

so please conduct the meeting
without me as I'm suffering

from zipper failure. I'm hopped up
on caffeine and twitching. I'm battery

operated and recalcitrant. To Whom
It May Concern: I'd rather be reading

the story about the elephant crouching
in the corner trying not to be noticed

by the zookeeper's wife in her ruffled
sleep cap to my son. I'd rather be reading

the book to him where the snowman
actually dies in the end. To Whom

It May Concern: I understand
the task is important, but I do not

want to be part of this Committee.
I've been buried by ribbons of snow

in a giant frozen dazzling. The universe
is changing to a white cereal bowl

with lots of rivets and I've been told
we live on the frost line. Please excuse me

from this meeting. Dark energy is shoving
the cosmos apart and it's best explored

in the pure environment of Antarctica.
To Whom It May Concern: I've moved

to the most difficult place on earth.
It's impossibly blue and blazing.

Copyright © 2010 Erika Meitner All rights reserved
from Subtropics
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission