Saturday morning in December

waking up to the disarray of my life:

empty cereal bowls, milk souring, potato chip crumbs

in my bed, pill bottles, caps off;

another night of frantically searching for something

in the middle of my life, not knowing where to find it.  My brain

atrophies like my students who are all shuffling along, unaware

of their lives, not caring.  The people in charge

also checked out, searching for ways to make things easier, to forget what is before them,

what might come

next.