the same one
I stepped out into
never as old as my 20 years
turning my back on college
saying Hallo! to the roving life
and took to falling through the towns
this is the same now
for the sparrow and
the dirty deaf-mute
pleading from his eyes like a symphony
this is the same now as when you learned
falling in love is easy
but getting along a contest
between endurance and contention
the same now for the junkyard
and the pampered
gila monsters and train conductors
one blinking once one clicking
10s of tickets every hour
it’s the same now we lost you, Dad
and the same one you come back
but are gone again
the same now bouncing from
Hong Kong to Texas
with a digitally decaying
cell phone laugh
THIS IS THAT NOW
for Natasia
this is that now
the same one we drove into
that Ashram in the mountains of Colorado
completely unbidden or intended
beneath the fat, squatting Buddha
in our flyswat rental
his smile peaks wide
the impossibility of our love blooming
fighting at camp that night
and destroying everything back in Philly
that statue could sense my guilt
like he knew all our futility
we’d never make it, but try and get there
peel webs and cataract of karma
open our arms to each other
but never really hold anything
except that now,
the same one--
this is that now
and even this one
we notice
and it’s gone.