“Advice from Mother on Your One Less Day” by Les Bernstein
skip obligation’s inescapable sins
wiggle out of pigeonholes
enjoy happenstance and flux
don’t forget to floss
clog the clunky machinery of belief
refuse templates of self
ignore persistent memory
elbows off the table
airbrush your self portrait
invite farcical pratfalls
avoid hard labor’s invitation to bruise
shoulders back stand up straight
one day a chill seeps into bones
clouds will scud at dusk
adventures of a single consciousness
turn to particle and ash
until then
navigate by lightless stars
hand write thank you notes
rsvp yes to everything
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Les Bernstein lives in Mill Valley, California. Her poems have appeared in journals, presses and
anthologies in the U.S and Europe. Her Chapbooks Borderland, Naked Little Creatures and Amid the
Din have been published by Finishing Line Press.
