My Bedroom's Still Old Normal

The nighttime routine chest congestion,

I'm presuming from allergies,

is the camel's nose of worry under the tent.

But sleep routinely wins out and

while my dreams have taken on

a tad more drama, the New Normal cast

has yet to confront me in my long gone workplace

wearing PPEs, spraying Clorox on my desk, or

shooing me to stand six feet back.

I still wake up refreshed and annoyed

by the routine cackles of Clarence and Clarke

the crow twins who bicker in the pecan tree

outside my bedroom window.

Everything's normal, old normal,

when I turn on the light and roll out of bed.

It doesn't take much to jolt me awake

to the new, though,

when I leave the room

and see on the bathroom sink

the cheap paper towel roll

where the toilet paper used to sit.

                                                                                                            m.d. paust