Gratitude for running water on tap...

and heat flowing with a snap

After shaving and showering,
yours truly feels winsome
though morose seeing
unwanted adipose "love handles"
inflating mine abdomen and tum
unanimously decided courtesy quorum
losing washboard stomach
finds me uncomfortably numb,
which middle age paunch
could never earn plaudits
from Heidi Klum,
no matter I would prefer
thine homebody missus
considerably more ho hum.

The spate of power outages
(particularly December 24th, 2022
arctic bomb bomb cyclone
affecting a broad swath
of United States electricity grid)
found yours truly and spouse
huddled under layers of blankets
clicking, doodling, fiddling... with
SAMSUNG Galaxy A02s -
SafeLink cell phone in an effort
to thwart bone chilling debacle.

Though shucking off clothes
when mine dysmorphic body froze
Old man winter's wrath did impose
after PECO (Philadelphia Electric Company)
technicians braved near absolute zero lows
(approximate temperature
including wind chill factor)
donned in countless layers
of under and overclothes
three cheers of hooray rose
once warm air gushed thru vent,
now greater awareness undergoes
transformation of appreciation
translates into letters xo's
whereby X represents a kiss,
(preferably to female crew member)
while the O represents a hug.

This most likely occurred
because X stylized representation
vaguely shows two mouths kissing,
whereas the O looks like
two pairs of arms
connecting for a hug.

Lots of smooching going around
the webbed wide world
cuz a little more than twelve hours ago
the stroke of midnight
heralded two thousand twenty three,
where throngs of people
covered every square inch of ground
far as the eye could see
encompassing Times Square
and adjacent neighborhoods

yours truly viewed
on flat screen television
far from the madding crowd
I experience agoraphobia,
thus spend time within four walls
of apartment unit b44
one solitudinarian whiling away
days of his life as the world turns
daylight revealing the clear horizon
into the edge of night.

Unsure how reading and writing
allow, enable, and provide

personal adequate contentment
versus majority of individuals,
whose bucket lists

full to the brim
with jet setting across the globe

many zipping, questing,

hopscotching, et cetera

preferring to access experiential

dynamic random pursuits
becoming gifted with enrollment

into frequent flyer program

as incentive program operated

by an airline to reward customers

for their continued loyalty.

Our hypothetical earthy traveler

earns free miles

for the miles they fly
on a particular airline
while embarking

on near impossible missions

sojourners for seeking truth,

goodness and beauty.