by Crispin Best
year one starts i don’t know some time this week
clip your toenails in a more gentle way and feel beautiful
spend some time following people around the freezer aisles at the supermarket and feel beautiful
grow dahlias or steal dahlias from someone, just make sure you have dahlias to leave around the place and find and feel beautiful
eat cereal in a more gentle way and use the right amount of milk and feel beautiful
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year two will start around a year from now
carry and hold things regularly to feel like things rely on you and to feel necessary
open drawers and leave them open and some hours later come back and close them gently and smile and they will be grateful
put bubble gum stickers on your body and peel them off and put them back on your body so they can barely stick but hold them there very tightly and feel necessary
go to a place where there is fruit and put the fruit in a basket and carry the basket to a town square and leave it there and walk away gently and feel necessary
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year three happens another year later
wrestle a friend’s new pet and take it too far and feel strong
push against the eastern wall of your house and think of the world turning and feel strong
plant pebbles in the soil and kick the soil and scream a little and feel strong
take the batteries out of clocks and place the clocks on the ground and look down at them and feel strong
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year four happens next
visit an aquarium and lift out and cuddle a stingray
gently eat the stingray and look around the aquarium and feel popular
cover your face with a stocking and stand naked at the finishing line of a charity long-distance run and scream and run towards people as they finish and feel popular
set fire to a cuddly toy and do a little dance and feel popular
go to an outdoor swimming pool at the end of spring and take a dump on the end of the lowest diving board and walk away gently and feel popular
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and year five
unroll a futon gently for a friend who’s staying but forget and go to sleep there and sleep gently
while sleeping think of diving boards and freezer aisles and picking fruit
and it won’t seem like a happy ending because you’ll think you’ve got another 45 or 50 years or something
it won’t seem like a happy ending but you’ll feel better.
WILLOWS WEPT REVIEW 