The Audit by Sandra Kacher

I am 70
and the rocks in the creek
are slippery
I have left the toast
too long in the toaster
and the butter is hard cold.
I’m waiting for the auditor
to review my taxes.

I am certain all my misdeeds
will be revealed at the kitchen table
today. Not just honest mistakes
like errors of addition
but the time I honked and
gave the finger to the old man
who was most certainly
just lost.
The time I screamed at my mother,
payback for troubled years,
and she cried
and I didn’t care.

Oh yes I’m cruel
And deceitful
And harsh
And it will all come out this morning.

While out on the deck
the cottonwood seeds
float freely the way stardust
drifts through the universe.

# # #

Sandra Kacher

Photo: Aimee Vogelsang