Gotta guy on a pole
in my backyard at 8 a.m.—
not something that happens
every day,

especially on a brisk almost-
winter morning like this one,
but he’s giving it the old
college try,

tinkering with wires,
trying to speed up my
internet, which guys like
him have tried to do
a couple of times
in the past
without success,

and that’s fine,
if it doesn’t work—
I’ve got all the speed I need,
I told the kids at the
phone store as they sold
me a cute purple phone,
insisting that my system
could move faster,

and I think,
Tell my feet that,
as they hit the sidewalk
this chilly December
morning on the way
to feed a friend’s kitties.

The walk does me good,
I tell myself—
the cold, perhaps,
not so much,

especially for that shivering
man outside on the pole
doing his darndest
to get me more speed,
enough, if I’m lucky,
to carry me into
the new year
and beyond.