"our job on this Earth is to leave artifacts."

I wonder if this is the first time
or the thousandth
I have lived this existence?

Wonder is what makes the jukebox play.

I think about this over lunch,
a house caesar salad
and a side of fries,
and Kerouac's Book of Sketches.

If this is the thousandth, am I getting better at it or worse?

In a parallel life, 
we sit across from each other 
at the kitchen table 
and make a grocery list. 

Our job on this Earth is to leave artifacts.

I am living my own explosion,
leaving books behind me,
as evidence I was here this go round.