Annie's Mind

The alarm clock causes great irritation
to her sleep-filled head. The snooze button is very appealing.
Still, she somehow forces her very not awake body
out from under the sauna-like bliss of her comforter
into the arctic chill that is her room. Every morning
is exactly the same, a replica of the day before:

get up
untangle hair
go take shower
get dressed
brush teeth
slather on makeup
attempt a decent hairdo
try to make the guys swoon

The monotony of the routine only adds to the sameness.

On her way out the door, she wishes
she was past this part of her life and into the real world.
Each day others who have reached the higher level
fill her brain to capacity with random knowledge. Every night
when she goes to bed it seeps out of her skull through osmosis.

The drone of Dr. Boring always causes her mind
to wander through the green pastures of the subconscious.
She dreams of the future where she’ll be a parent
sending the kids off to school. When they’re old enough
she’ll follow that routine she started in college,
only she’ll add more to accommodate the family’s needs:

wake kids up
dress them
brush their teeth
comb their hair
make them breakfast
pack their lunch

She figures the monotony of the routine will only add to the sameness.

The shuffling of books and backpacks
always brings her back to reality. Into a world of gray,
a world of uncertainty and lost dreams.
Dreary defines her, and normal life forces her feet to dance
a little slower each day, dragging forward to the future or
stumbling in reverse to the past. She wonders if life is always like that.

She tries as hard as she can to stop the monotony of her routines to stamp out the sameness.