by Mignon Ariel King

When the coffeepot speaks Click Click
Hiss, and you can’t tell if it’s saying
Good morning or Go to hell,
it’d be a good day to go back to bed.
Why subject one’s self to co-work?

Or, having called in sick, maybe hang up
the drapes, counting seven hooks each.
Pull out Grandma’s little red wrist cushion
to mend the hems of glass curtains.

The ticking and tocking of the legless clock
help Dean Martin’s smooth-on-vinyl voice
convince you to relax into evening, night.
For hot cider never plays word games. It
simply makes tomorrow seem a fine idea.

 Mignon Ariel King is a lifelong resident of greater Boston, Massachusetts. She is author of the poetry collection THE WOODS HAVE WORDS (Ibbetson Street Press, 2009). King often reads at open-mics and sings Aerosmith tunes, among other rock favorites. The former English instructor and alumna of Simmons College edits the online journals MoJo! and U.M.Ph.!