Fingerless gloves and a good woolen shawl
makes a babushka from the bumpkin;
a grad student with inadequate heating
in the asbestos mines called the social science building

Burn pages of your dissertation
or better yet, the several texts stacked by your right
you said you’d read this winter break
it’s a compendium of weighted words like shackles
to the mind that drifts along doodled post-it notes
but at least it might keep you warm

—

Just some thoughts today. It’s freezing in the office and I am alone, listening to Gregorian chants while trying to read Austin’s How to Do Things With Words. At times, it is crystal clear what he means. Then, nothing. No meaning, just confusion. At least the cold keeps me on my toes but Austin is great sleeping material.