Numbers and Words

Numbers and Words

The scientist on my television screen

Said in the precision of numbers

Is a key that unlocks mysteries

Reveals worlds unseen

Beyond the lenses of Hubble

Beyond the antennas of Arecibo

Beyond the sensors of CERN

Radio

Neptune

Dark matter

Spoken in a language

That is a mystery

Unlocked by the

Precision of words

Written by poets

Boston Strong? (Boston Marathon, 2015)

Boston Strong?

What you saw

What you lost

Was seen in

The emptiness of eyes

That had no image

Heard in a voice

That had no words

Adequate to purge

A heart that tried

To contain the agony of a city

                Even Our Fucking City

That could not understand

Tee shirts and slogans have their place

But are not adequate to fill

A void once occupied

Flesh

Bone

Blood

Boston Strong?

Not strong enough

For you

Who stood at the line

On a day when

Our tradition became

Your tragedy

How and Why?

How and Why?

Your questions Why

Incessant

Persistent

Lurking behind every new encounter

Surprising experience

Challenging jaundiced eyes to see

The surrounding marvel

Have become How

To solve

To improve

To change

To go beyond

To challenge yourself to see

And marvel and what might be

Workaday

Workaday

Buzz
Thump
Click
Whoosh
Shuffle
Vroom
WOOO
Rattle
Zzzz
WOOO
Shuffle
Rattle
Shuffle
Ding
Whir
Ding
Click
Work

How Far?

How Far?
 

Perched at hill’s crest

Propelled by youthfulness

The cheers of classmates

And willful ignorance

My legs churned

Outrunning doubt

Feet

Forward

Faster

Finally

Flat

Face

First

How far I flew

Carried by youthfulness

Daring laughter

Gleeful ignorance

And flimsy cardboard wings

I’ll never know

But far enough

Perched at hill’s crest

Restrained by age

The scorn of conformity

And stern awareness

My legs churn

At pace with expectation

How far could I have flown

Carried by carefree wings

I’ll never know

Never far enough