Up at 4:00 AM, I saw my silhouette
on the curtain – a shadow from the night light
on the opposite wall. The wisp of hair
raised by static was cute – like an infant’s
topknot – but my head! My head
was just a blob.
No evidence of learning or creativity
inside – no depth, no loves, no preferences – just a blob!
Attached to a waking woman
in a shapeless jersey, the blob
urged her to the kitchen: Make coffee.
Make it now! That’s how winter
mornings start when the humidifier
isn’t working, and the head arriving
in the kitchen sports gray and thinning hair.
It takes courage.
Some days, it takes courage.
Sue Blaustein is the author and publisher of “In the Field, Autobiography of an Inspector” (2018), “The Beer Line” (2022) and “All the Secrets Around Me” (2025). She retired from the Milwaukee Health Department in 2016 after 25 years as a food safety inspector. More information can be found at www.sueblaustein.com.
