Paul held his hands around his knees.
His butt on the ground.
His back against a ponderosa.
He was happy no television
could be seen from here
or cell signal reach his phone.
Paul noticed someone
suspended an electric cord from a tree limb
where hung a light bulb.
He reached for the on-off switch
but it was six inches beyond
his outstretched hand.
His eye followed the cord
up into the tree past three other branches
to where it threaded through a knothole.
Paul noticed the bulb
was blackened where bulbs blacken
when burned out.
He stood directly beneath it
aware he had no idea what to do
with a darkened bulb above his head.
copyright © 2021 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 