Not mine, but changed my life a tiny bit this morning. As poetry has the capacity to do from time to time.
*
*
*
*
Preparedness
By Rae Armantrout
Animals find us eerie.
We can see what’s coming
in broad strokes —
washed out,
frequently displaced.
Still, it smites us.
Like ghosts we pass back and forth
between times,
stunned,
unable to feel
what we touch.
We believe in abstractions.
*
That’s one way to explain
our failure to prepare.
*
*
*
*
Preparedness
By Rae Armantrout
Animals find us eerie.
We can see what’s coming
in broad strokes —
washed out,
frequently displaced.
Still, it smites us.
Like ghosts we pass back and forth
between times,
stunned,
unable to feel
what we touch.
We believe in abstractions.
*
That’s one way to explain
our failure to prepare.