I walk a tightrope life
my balancing pole see-sawing
under weight of microplastics, wild
fires, melting icecaps. I try
to counterbalance by thumbing
the scale with little things—
carrying change for egg
customers, ordering library
books for pickup next week
at storytime, shooing turkeys
from corn patch. I’m told 
I make the trivial weightier
than need be, but if I didn’t
how quickly I’d tip and fall.