Once again
I’ve left that back burner on
for days and days and days
waiting for the water to boil
returning to find it all evaporated
changing phase again
I fill it up and walk away
if I kept it in my sight
the change would never happen
so again I find it empty
waiting for attention
and again
and then again
until eventually the trend
is so established
that it’s habit
fill leave boil gone empty
fill boil gone
Now and then I’ll catch myself off guard
and get the timing right
or someone else will recognize
or force my hand
to recollect the plans and tasks
all stacked in minerals
stuck around the dried up pot
and I become a temporary scientist
extracting information
from molecular strands of data
cataloged in amino acids
to reconstruct the skeleton and function
of what has broken down to dust
and it comes out better than new