watching water boil
by richibi
“Water Album – Ten Thousand Riplets on the Yangzi”
____
I’ve got something for you, I said to
a friend when she fretted again about
a condition, one of several, dare I say,
eating away at her, though from the
inside, I believe, instead of the outside,
if you know what I mean
my tremor, she explained, something
I’d indeed earlier noted, and
commented on
my doctor said it wasn’t Parkinson’s
and I want a second opinion, she said,
he’s referred me to a neurologist
what did your doctor say it was, I
asked
just nerves, she answered
I’ve always thought it was just
nerves, I said, stress
but I don’t think I’m stressed, she
replied
you’re stressed right now, I retorted
have you been meditating, I asked,
like I suggested
no, she said, I just can’t get into it
I know, I know, I responded, listen,
this is why I called, I just figured
this out, I’ve been boiling water to
rinse my dishes for a while now,
ever since the water alert several
years ago when the water went
brown, I’ve got one or even several
pots behind me on the stove heating
while I’m washing the dishes, most
often I’m finished before the water
boils
I still have my plastic gloves on, I
don’t want to take them prematurely
off, so I either watch the water boil
or look at the mountains from my
window, both of which can get
tiresome
the mountains mostly win out but
then I have to turn back to check
on the water, and I’m back where
I started, watching the water boil
a watched pot never boils, this’d
be great for your condition
excuse me, she said
watch a pot of water boil, I said,
you probably won’t watch it from
start to finish, but
she started to laugh
you can start watching after several
minutes, you don’t even have to
she continued to laugh
watch it till it boils, every day you
can add minutes
she didn’t stop laughing
doesn’t that sound logical, I asked,
all she’d need was will, which’d get
rid of her tremor, I concluded
later I could’ve added that if you’re
diligent, which is to say patient, calm
you’ll start to more precisely define
the word “boil”, have 32 names for
it like Eskimos do for snow
from simmer, shimmer, steam and
hover, stir, roil, ripple and shudder,
to “Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble”,
for instance
a note to myself, do the same thing
with “mountain”
Richard
Richibi's Weblog 