Wherever I walk is without
consequence. Skid Row,
alleyways, abandoned
lots of Walmarts. I was a kid
just wandering.
Believing I was in
the Mark Strand
poem. I thought
the absence of field
was wherever
I occupied.
I’ve learned
this is not true.
The absence
of field is everywhere.
But my way of
living
is not the world.
(originally published in Perceptions Magazine, Spring 2022)
Do not forget me:
I have struggled to break
through my own absence
of field. Let a helium balloon
float to where it disappears.
We have not spoken
in years. The phone you gave
me I replaced to return
my sense of self-place. Still,
send me a signal you sense me,
and we will come to static
where we cannot hear
how we wish to be heard
but we will know
we are there.
(originally published in CultureCult Magazine, 2017)