First you preheat your oven at 180 degrees, an about-face from everything you knew and took for granted.<\/p>\n
Let it sit for a month or two, the year’s just begun.<\/p>\n
Then you take a large mixing bowl, scramble up a few rumors, official statements, hearsay, and news,<\/p>\n
and panic.<\/p>\n
Do weird shit, like hoard toilet paper and hand sanitizer, run your shopping cart into a ditch, shun your neighbors, haunt social media for a lifeline.<\/p>\n
Letting your foundation set, whipped into frenzy, a chiffon of meringue madness, abide for a bit, see what the experts say, zoom a toast at 8 o’clock to fellow basted mates.<\/p>\n
Sink into the sofa, smoke a blunt, drive by a friend’s house, congratulate her graduate with a honk and a sign, “Class of 2020!” and resign.<\/p>\n
Help is on its way.<\/p>\n
Don’t bake the idea too long, though, keep it in the oven past your last dollar, because you’ll falter, trip, sweat a few<\/p>\n
confectioner’s sweets into your keyboard and blow your connection.<\/p>\n
Better you sift through a conspiracy or two, topping for the frenzied mass you made, sitting on the kitchen table,<\/p>\n
unmasked, dreamed, driven by fear, denial at its best, deign a madman’s folly, char your friends; hey, hang your<\/p>\n
neighbor’s old man–it’s a free country.<\/p>\n
Simmer what you want.<\/p>\n
Time’s up! Your smart watch demands you take action. March. Burn. Loot. Cry. Celebrate. Die.<\/p>\n
Eat your just desserts–you made it.<\/p>\n
Dream big.<\/p>\n
The ending’s just begun.<\/p>\n
We’ll all be demanding a bigger piece of the pie–not the one you baked, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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