<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">The Zen of Housework<defanged_meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii" class=""><defanged_meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)" class=""><defanged_body link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US" class=""><div class="Section1"><p class="">I look over my own shoulder<br class="">down my arms<br class="">to where they disappear under water<br class="">into hands inside pink rubber gloves<br class="">moiling among dinner dishes.<br class=""><br class="">My hands lift a wine glass,<br class="">holding it by the stem and under the bowl.<br class="">It breaks the surface<br class="">like a chalice<br class="">rising from a medieval lake.<br class=""><br class="">Full of the grey wine<br class="">of domesticity, the glass floats<br class="">to the level of my eyes.<br class="">Behind it, through the window<br class="">above the sink, the sun, among<br class="">a ceremony of sparrows and bare branches,<br class="">is setting in Western America.<br class=""><br class="">I can see thousands of droplets<br class="">of steam -- each a tiny spectrum -- rising<br class="">from my goblet of grey wine.<br class="">They sway, changing directions<br class="">constantly -- like a school of playful fish,<br class="">or like the sheer curtain<br class="">on the window to another world.<br class=""><br class="">Ah, grey sacrament of the mundane!<br class=""><br class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Al Zolynas</p></div></defanged_body></defanged_meta></defanged_meta></body></html>