November 24: "Lincoln," To-Do List, Distractions

My life is full of constant digressions and distractions.  When I get up in the morning, I always have ambitious plans of what I will accomplish during the day.  By the time I surrender to sleep at around midnight or 1 a.m., my to-do list has been transformed into a to-don't list.  There never seems to be enough time, ever.

Billy Collins gets distracted . . . 

Lincoln

by: Billy Collins

Whatever it was that just flew out of my head

did not leave a trace,

not a contrail in the sky

not a footprint in a field of new snow.

The last thing I remember

is reading a sentence

in a long biography of Abraham Lincoln,

something about his face being so ugly

it became beautiful

in the eyes of Walt Whitman,

but there was something after

that made me fold down the corner

of the page and close the book--

so much I cannot think of today,

a team of white birds lifting off a shoreline

and disappearing into the sun.

So, once more I have whiled away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain.  That means I completed about 10% of my intended tasks.  I played keyboard for two church services, went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, and planned for/led a virtual poetry workshop.  Oh, and I took my puppy for two long walks.  

After I'm done typing this blog post, I'm going to dive into finishing another writing project.  Nothing I want to discuss right now, but the due date is fast approaching.  I can't get distracted by Lincoln's face or a team of white birds lifting off a shoreline.  I need to stay focused.

Said Saint Marty as he cleans the bathroom, organizes and alphabetizes his bookshelves, bakes a ham, reads The Brothers Karamazov, and trains for a half marathon.