I never would’ve noticed

were it not pointed out

during my uncle’s quest for a leak

that confounded

many scholars of the forms

of curving water lines &

drains. There, in back

of the sink’s cabinet:

a stripe that could’ve been glue

or a quirk in the design.

“That’s real bad,” he says,

touching black to be sure

like a teen stick-poking

a meteorite before

ending up swallowed by jelly

in The Blob. Does that make me

young Steve McQueen—

cocksure, hot-rodding,

ready to save the day?

No, I prefer to run,

even if it dooms Earth

to be the old fruit in aspic.