Shimmer
A shimmered death: it happens again
that we near-lose our lives to a taxi,
happening once then but then once
again as I try to recall. Not that I relive it–
not that I draw from footage–more like if
I were to try it shimmers, and holds
no shape, at the soft edge of my vision.
What was the sky? An unremitting orb
all blue, above me, above you, above
the whole, skinny world, which I'd wait
to see fill out for longer than this took.
I need to put words in your mouth
and mine to give the moment substance,
but I struggle. It shimmers. I lose attention
to what was said, if anything, and anyway,
who pulled who back? I can feel sure we were
silent after that, having had to see it used
in a second. The whole of our providence.
What was I but kind of shimmer, or so much
compressed air? How much binds me? And this
marginal gloss does little now, but shimmer.
A shimmered death: it happens again
that we near-lose our lives to a taxi,
happening once then but then once
again as I try to recall. Not that I relive it–
not that I draw from footage–more like if
I were to try it shimmers, and holds
no shape, at the soft edge of my vision.
What was the sky? An unremitting orb
all blue, above me, above you, above
the whole, skinny world, which I'd wait
to see fill out for longer than this took.
I need to put words in your mouth
and mine to give the moment substance,
but I struggle. It shimmers. I lose attention
to what was said, if anything, and anyway,
who pulled who back? I can feel sure we were
silent after that, having had to see it used
in a second. The whole of our providence.
What was I but kind of shimmer, or so much
compressed air? How much binds me? And this
marginal gloss does little now, but shimmer.
