i am fasting this lent
[not from chocolate or red wine, let me hasten to add,
or muffins from deganis, coffee, or cut flowers of any description]

i am fasting from knowing.

so in a cafe, yesterday
she, sitting next to me, exclaimed over the headlines:

‘Britney shouldn’t be let near those children, should she?’

and i [deep breath] said,
‘i won’t ever know enough about Britney to know’.

you know – and this is much more embarrassing
than interesting –
this lent, unexpectedly,
i am finding i want to hear Britney’s story
all of it
and i think i might even want to understand.

[could this be compassion?]

it’s much harder than i thought it would be,
this fasting.