I Am Here For It
You are not what you see, but what you say and do
As I am not what made me, but what I make happen - now and next time
We are lips and tendons and tastes
And I am yours to wreck and rebuild
If we choose to stitch this life together in sinew and scotch tape
This is temporary
This is everything
I am here for it
I want you to absorb me in my wetness
Drink me and drain me and dry me off
As I love you from a distance, up here
Words coming out wrong, wanting to sound strong
But only managing to graft grammatical particles
In place of the automatic poetry that moves me
Transitions are not temporary
They are everything
I am here for it
So move with it, move on:
One step forward and two paces back
Into this blurred nightscape extending beyond us all
My heart fouled by thoughts,
My brain fueled by feelings;
I am all mixed up
This is temporary
This is everything
I am here for it
Because tomorrow is a mindset we allow
It’s a mechanism used to understand unknowable things
Like God and grace and luck and liminality
Pressed against the panels of a room vented by music
Where people have been before
And here I am, WAITING
Transitions are everything
They are not temporary
I am here for it
Image credit: Robert E. Lee (Richmond Artistic Photographer / Courtesy of a Private Collector) OpenSFHistory.org, wnp28.3354
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What a delight to re-discover your writing and your entertaining musical posts! I had a glancing acquaintance with your work some years ago when you exchanged comments with the son of Dave Geddis, who served as photographer in the 1960’s for the Fog Horn Magazine published by Letterman General (Army) Hospital. I served as staff writer for the same publication. As I recall, you were involved in archival work that included hospital memorabilia. I just set up a web page through WordPress and I noticed your blog. Anyway, glad to re-meet you. Please take a look at my web page and posts. By the way, I have two bound books of the Fog Horns: Jan 13 to Dec 21, 1964, and Jan 18 to Dec 15, 1965, if you would be interested in adding them to your collection. In the meantime, here’s my web address: https://benjaminauthor.com/