Today, Part II

Today, Part II

“The best way to wreck something is to take it seriously.”—Philip Whalen

The whole follows the half, the half follows none
I have never heard them complain
Why cloak things in today when you can have them tomorrow
There is not a new living today
The path is not a path without a mother, and to start
I am watching the lives shrink
I am watching the light and the families walk through it
Today is indistinguishable from a day you had yesterday or
A year or so back; it was hot
The lack of laughing on the high wires is not so funny
It is so serious this time! Don’t laugh!
Today the world is not shutting down on time
But the rattle of the storefront cage is near
It’s near galactic in its slow tempo
Listless and glacial, across miles and miles of life and water and ghosts
The selfish survive, the good sometimes never live,
And the bees, they still make honey, every day they can
The half follows the invisible to no end
There is no end


August 2005, October 2005