NORM

Not Norman Schaefer,
Washington poet
and high school roommate—

but the measure
of acceptable,
of the average

pebble worn
in the streambed
without a name,

ideals and dreams
tossed in the current
wash of friction.

To remember who I am,
I can go to the hard rock
of the high mountains

anytime I want
for clarity, to release
what’s become normal.