how to have goals when you believe in emptiness

anger is a habit,
sadness is a habit,
peace is a practice.

the knife goes to
the left of the plate,
i think,
to the left of the plate
and with the blade
pointed in.

anger is a
habit.

one possible explanation
for road rage is that
we are maxing out our
executive functions,
piloting thousands of
pounds of glass
and metal,
our own bone weighing
so much less.
this leaves little
room for calm.

sadness is
a habit.

and isn’t the root
of near-all fear,
well,
sadness?
and isn’t the root
of near-all anger,
well,
fear?

peace is a practice.

when i was a child
there was an old dog
in the family.
its sight gone.
its hearing gone.
every day it would
walk from its food bowl,
out into the small yard,
back in through
another door
letting in to the living room,
and back to its food bowl.
checking, always
checking to see if
this bowl might be
suddenly full.

anger is a
habit. and
sadness
is a habit
too.
and peace,
peace,
is a
practice.