To be published in The Cape Rock

VISCOSITY

“A basic resistance to flow measurable by viscometers and rheometers. Also a measure of its resistance to gradual deformation by shear stress or tensile stress.” —Wikipedia, 2017

The viscous fluid of a person can be measured by their decisions

about love, work, and the world. This is done when dying

with a viscometer. Choices to stay or go, choices to listen

or ignore; like the bird still east in coldest January,

optimism is good for viscosity flow, but it’s rarer these days.

It’s a secret known only to certain death attendants.

All are born with the same ability to be agile

but many accumulate thickening agents like depression, rage,

and anxiety.

As you get older you might become more fluid

or less so, in which case you are cemented in place in your mind.

In looking around I’m seeing a lot of stuck people.

This time I think it’s fear.