You say to yourself
Walk her to the parking
lot after class
Talk about the New-Agey
teacher
What we thought about
When he turned the
lights off
And played a guided
mediation tape
All quick questions
Defense Mechanisms
The barely-there norm
She’s this short, petite Latino girl
The speaker of a
cautious, endearing language
Not the language of
innocence
But of reserve and
cheerfulness
Some knowing aspect
The cause of heritage
Of someone who hasn’t
really strayed from life
Who doesn’t suspect
there is a sour trick at play
Yet aware of this idea
Having felt its weight
Having persevered
Who may have been
around the shady types
But does not advance it
A strange fact
In this strange thing
You say more liberalism
would help
And a healthier economy
And we’d do well to spend
time with family
Read a book every now
and then
Stay in on Saturday
night
And stare at yourself
in the mirror
‘I know you’re after
intensity’
You’ll say to the
mirror
‘Cause I chased it too’
She says, We do it for
ourselves
And then for others
Don’t confuse the order
For perhaps there is no way
But we shall not know coiled up
Sucking upon the second hand of centuries
The buildup of the easy
You say to her wonderful
black hair
Remember:
We came out of the
world
Without initiation
And the world came out
of the world
Without initiation
I tell you this
But the hearers didn’t
choose to hear
And the deaf did not
choose otherwise
And you may withdrawal
Say you owe nothing
Say that you are your
own thing
With your own projects
Your own pleasure
That no one can take
that away
By her clothes
By her shyness
An honest young woman
You dwell on that
You
You are a liar
A politician
A teenage smirk
Glazed debris
You’ve sat against yourself
In the screaming body of a victim
Your body
So many years
Always digging yourself out
The body like a wet towel twisted dry
You first notice her on
the bus
The back of her head
Her hair pulled back:
Over her ear the
slimmest of strands
Out of order
In the wonderful
sunlight
Blessing her
And you sit there
And you want to be
surefooted and articulate
When you come into her
view
You’ll exit and smile
slightly
And you want to be the
highest self
The highest there is
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