2043
WHERE WILL I BE IN 2043
when the BIG meteorite passes within inches of
the Earth? Should it veer a few miles off course
I’ll be in the same place as you? Starts with an O
ends with an N (not oblivion) You must work
much harder to insinuate yourself into this poem
..a long novel just like your life; you were going through
it without thinking and then one morning it ended: there
were bloodstains. (James Salter Last Night)
That home An uncle shrieked: Turn some Goddamned
lights off it looks like a 3 ring circus over there We did not
Same uncle to sleep over Parents escaped London 7 days 1978
Barred the door at 10 pm Heard him banging+cursing for 16
minutes freezing March night in Great White North He never
came back for more
There is a longing for the past so innately human For your own
personal Eden Even if much of it is fantasy playing in repertory
for the duration For a time when you felt more expected more
knew less Cervical spine not yet compressed by gravity rear-enders
bad feldenkrais teacher from Arizona
Lifted+thrusted lifted+thrusted Called you at 11:30 one night to ask
about your perfume! By then 36 revolutions of the earth ’round the sun
Knew enough to run from scum-bag guru with moves When the meteorite
comes you will wear your after-life face proudly But who will recognize you?
No one who knew you when you were coltish Whatever holds people together
will be gone
___
It is easier for a needle to pass through a camel than for a poor man to
enter a woman of means Just go to the graveyard and ask around
(Mark Strand 1998 Pulitzer Prize)
Winter 2015
octogenarion
songanddancegirl 