I have to do a Caesarean today
aboard a 19th Century Man-o’-War
at sea in a battle. It will be noisy –
I don’t think I’ll need a melon,
can get away with wet cloths.

I bought a cabbage for head bashing –
the greengrocer peeled back the outer leaves
to show me how green and fresh it was,
I smacked it to hear how much it rattled.

Yesterday, a man held a woman
at knifepoint; a cop with a gun
made him drop the knife. I imagined
a dagger but the writer said machete.
I dropped metal objects until I heard
enough weight but not too much clang –
a trowel with a plastic handle.

The shopping list for tomorrow includes
bananas for a banquet,
liver salts for champagne (pouring not drinking),
vegetable soup and hot water bottle for the guest who overindulged,
Ryvita for toast the morning after.

I can put the wooden rostrum upside down
on a mattress for actors to wobble on a lake
but the paddling pool has a puncture
and the baby bath is too small so I don’t know
how to do the scene when they jump in the water
and wade to the shore.