while doing my checking my routine
I must do each night I check each
candle three times trace the burnt wick
as I say off off off I can’t tonight
keep moving through the kitchen
I stand in front of the stove again
following the small red dot above
each dial I stand and tilt my neck
to think only off but the fireworks
are cracking again not metaphorical
reds and blues but real noises it’s Sunday
the Fourth of July and I just want to check
each knob as I must three times
in a set of three I just want to go
to bed but another firework I can hear
but not see interrupts me again it’s not
fair that I get only the downsides
of each of my diagnoses no casual
inaccurate offhand OCD organization
no just a tired man in front of a stove
telling it again it is off