Connie Post

Time Change

I love to set the clocks back.

not on a screen
or a digital device
but physically,
take the clock down
shifting gravity and time
from one arm to the other

finding the hour hand
with my other
hand
watching the earth rotate
within the small gears
that never cease

feeling the weight
of the past months
the fires, the diseases
the scientists on the tv screen
with their wrinkled faces
and trenches of worry

my grandson asks me
if we can go to the park yet
he asks me
“is Corona ever going to be over”
I tell him,
“yes, it will eventually be over”

but for now
I fiddle with the kitchen clock
synchronize it with the others
in the house

even the dog
knows the darkness will come earlier now

I hide all the masks
in the shapes of empty mouths
in a drawer
nobody knows about