to confess a deep frustration —
beyond this monotonous interplay of words
and chores scratched off a mental to-do list
only to see it fill up once more
in sisyphusian fashion.
secretly yearning for some escape
found in a few solitary moments away
from the milling crowd
and perpetually seeking release
from the collective dues of endless
comparison, consumption
and those judgments which inevitably
follow along unkindly, yet still hoping
to arrive one day
by some surreptitious route
to a quiet state of mind
with the proverbial slate
forever wiped clean.