ohio weather, schizophrenic

my body learns how to be cold just in time for the temperature to rise. the snow from earlier recedes from the sidewalks like hair from the heads of balding men. every dip in the pavement, two cupped hands collecting a puddle.

the day ends in a fury of premature heat. winter is swept away like cobwebs from our attic. every layer of earth sweats and rejects us and the poison it was fed.

.a.series.of.non.congruent.boxes.

Start with a sheet of paper, presumably blank, but if not, flip it over. Should you have something double-sided, or, even worse, a Möbius strip, then you will have to begin again.

Use a straight edge of any variety excluding self-righteous teenagers - although, it is perfectly valid to steal their markers from under their noses for the next step - and draw yourself 8 parallel lines, intersected perpendicularly by 6 more parallel lines.
Now ignore the lines and concentrate on the space between; you should have a 7x5 grid.

Start with today's date and count off the rest of the month, beginning anew with the head of the next.
Throw some letters above your columns.

Don't worry if it's all blurry. You can infer what you wrote later.

If you want, trace a coloured box around the weekend.

Fill in your boxes with your goals and plans, and see for yourself how you are pushing the emptiness out from your numbered days.