Why Not Tell Myself I’m on Vacation?

Why not tell myself I’m on vacation?

Look at the blue mountain there, the peach sunrise       

behind it while I stretch, hands prickling with cold.

I live here, sure, and work, but to say I’m on vacation

sharpens my eyes, softens my heart toward this day,

wondering what novelty of beauty or kindness

I’ll find in the people I meet, as if joy is dormant

beneath the mundane surface of every single thing.