I read these two poems on Saturday, April 27, 2019, as part of the Tompkins County Public Library Readathon fundraising event.
Clouds
you say
it's a cumulus zoo up there
look!
you point
and the car swerves a bit
steady
(I whisper to myself)
do you see that?
you urge
eager to share your discovery
so I swivel my head
follow your pointing finger
all the way to . . .
what is it?
I ask
(I see a cloud
one of many
I am not yet pulled in)
don't you see it?
you want me to find it on my own
you are my guide
but still you want
to leave room for my imagination
alas, my imagination falters
I see amorphous fluffs of white moving along
I'm not good at this game
I give up so quickly
it's a pig's head
you exclaim
a pig's head
on an elephant's body
and the elephant's tail
looks exactly like an alligator
and there's a bear
you continue
up on its hind legs
getting ready to swallow the
alligator/elephant/pig
don't you see it?
— you’re excited now —
oh, oh here comes a lion!
surely you see the lion!
right
I say
sure, the lion
I see that
we both pretend I'm telling the truth
that I can see with your eyes
I do see the lake
I assure you
resting the back of my right hand
on the passenger-side window
that's good
you say
the lake
yes
that is the lake
You Seem to be You
you seem to be you and I seem to be me —
but who knows?
is it possible we are apple seeds in the same sweet apple?
or hats perched atop mannequins in a shop window
in oooh-lala-Paris?
and if we are hats
then I want to have a wide brim with a floppy purple flower
(a peony?)
hanging down the right side
and you can be whatever kind of hat you want to be
I am not feeling especially bossy today
but I will say this
if it turns out you are not you
and I am not me
and we are neither apple seeds
nor bird feathers
nor pine trees . . .
if you are not you and I am not me
and we are two different people
who don't yet know each other
then my biggest wish
is for us to meet one day
and recognize some unmistakable spark
to be drawn together by a bright light
or a pleasant smell
or a strong vibration
or a single musical note
it could be anything
as long as we connect again
(or would it be considered the first time?)
because
what other reason would there be
to get up in the morning
Note: I offer profound thanks to Terrence Keenan for his poem "A Sweetness Appears and Prevails." His opening lines ("The reason we bother/ to get up in the morning") and the phrase toward the end ("You seem to be you/ and I seem to be me") led me into my poem
