bubbling

August 7, 2025 – 7:03 am

It’s fun. All of it.
The seriousness. The light.
Phony friends. Deep-set acquaintances. Family pieces.
The bubbling below the surface that we walk day after day.

There’s no stopping this. Not now. It will end by its own volition.
We’ll hit a wall.
Slip down a hole.
Get zapped up to the sky.
Or put our heads to the pillow and stay there in perpetual sleep.

And all of it is okay, and good, and exactly what we deserve.

But let’s not think of the end when the day is so fresh.
When everything’s new—again.

Sipping fresh-brewed coffee while my wife showers.
She’s just through the wall.
Me at the keys, about to get dirty,
While she washes away the night, yesterday, the past—
And brings her brightness to the world.

All while I tromp through trash in search of treasures
that should have never been thrown away.

I find one occasionally—when I’m willing to really get in there.
Dig into the dark.
Teeter on the edge of warning cracks
And slide as far as I can down sinkholes
Without getting sucked in.

That’s where I find the good stuff.
Things I remember.
That I’ve felt someplace else.
Maybe even before here.

I know they’re important,
So I search as much as I can every day.

I know if I find enough, and bring them back to her,
She’ll see it’s not necessary for her to get dirty like this.

I don’t want her to shower just to wash things away.
I want her to stay that way—
Happy and clean.
No need to care about what’s bubbling below the surface.

~ KJ