Your fingernails are growing
mark a spot
use permanent ink
watch it slide to the edge
and clip it off.
From cuticle to clipping
right before your eyes
watching nails grow.
Different than watching grass grow
you have to stay still for that
watching nails grow
just takes looking down
now and again.
see, you can use your time well:
go to work, go home
get some food
do it again
same order
different order
same growing
glance down
watch that mark,
it’s moving.
Some day you’ll be old enough
to call that speed “fast.”
-Bill Rood
Host, Welcome Words at Rodeo-Ristra
Hoboken, New Jersey