If you are quiet
be loud
If you are loud
be quiet
Don’t laugh
if you don’t get the joke
Don’t cheat
Wear red
If you are generous
be frugal
If you are frugal
be generous
Give away
all your ill fitting clothes
Give up your place in line
It’s okay to ask
for directions
There is no bush to beat around
Fall asleep smiling
Don’t set the alarm
Wake up on the wrong side
of the bed
Colleen Redman writes and provides photography for The Floyd Press newspaper in Virginia. Her poems have appeared in Mothering Magazine, We’moon Journal, Floyd County Moonshine, and Artemis Journal. Online publications that have featured her poetry include Della Donna, Poetry24, and Clutching at Straws. She blogs daily at looseleafnotes.com. “Dear Abby, How can I get rid of freckles?” was her first published piece at the age of 11.