Friday, May 17, 2013

recognition (the proximity of imagined cars)

recognition (the proximity of imagined cars)

I have only two emotions
Careful fear and dead devotion
I can't get the balance right


i do not recognize friends from 35 years ago
even when they are sitting next to me at a bar

until they speak and then the ones i knew return to me
masked behind new faces those years have sculpted

just as i do not recognize me in the mirrors of my day
inverted and creased at the corners of my eyes now


i have come to recognize that i cannot wish into reality
i cannot render real by waving a magic wand of words

no this is not a David Lynch movie
i have to remind myself along with breathing deeply

i’ll not be willing myself out of this prison and into your world
where you stand nude illuminated by headlights in a desert night

but i would recognize you anywhere
any time

you pass me in a car that i have never seen
you are wearing a silver thumb ring
and your hair is dyed auburn

i do not see your tattoo
or meet my eyes with yours
but i would recognize you anywhere


i do recognize the rush of recognition and proximity

the sudden heavy hollowness of my chest
everything else of this world falling away
the terrible calm of putting you back together again

i watch the car i have never seen before
disappear ahead of me and i hold onto you

freshly pressed into my mind weighted
by a silver thumb ring and auburn hair


do you think of me as i do you
do you think of me still

do you
do you
do you

i pass by you unnoticed
a sudden gust of sand
forcing you to shut your eyes
and turn your head suddenly

although you seem to recognize
a faint sing-song incantation

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