When I say, “How are you?”
I don’t know what that means.
A person who says such a thing
could be worried, curious, benign.
No one knows.
What if I say,
“Let me know if you need anything.”
That would not be better.
Asking you to work out
pie or pot or primroses in the afternoon
will not get you out of bed,
off the floor,
downstairs.
This poem first appeared in the September 2021 issue of Cathexis Northwest Press
Jennifer Hill-Flores 