Pools

At night my infant son sleeps in a pool
of dim light (like the human race)
which keeps the terror of the dark
theoretically at bay.

After all, night-lights (and suns) do not
truly remove the inky dead black of space:
illumination is only done to other things.
Not Space-night itself:

it is forever invisible, clear, is blank-black;
is the absence of seeing, is null data; but
as adults and extinct species learn,
null data can be wrong.

(The asteroid, or alien, or thief, may not
distinguish itself from the dark null
outside our small dim pool of light until
they are upon us.)

In the vast expanse of our small house
my son is lost without his light, and cries
for me, for safety and comfort; but even I
cannot save him from the dark.




Jan 2017

Dishes

If you happen to find yourself breaking and entering into someone's house, and you suddenly realize they are home, they are armed, and they are probably going to come kill you, one good idea is to head toward the kitchen and start doing the dishes.


They might still decide to kill you, but no sane homeowner would ever kill someone doing the dishes. And while they wait for you to finish up, you have a few minutes to either figure a way out of the situation or put your spiritual house in order.


Just a thought.

The common cold

"Poor guy," I said, regarding
his crusty nostrils, and
she said he's doing much
better today, he slept a lot--
but when I heard him coughing
late in our darkened house
my mind became a slave
to how sometimes children die
in the night, for no good reason!;
and like a spy I slipped away
with grim urgency, determination,
only once betrayed by a creaking
step while creeping to his door
and listened to his breathing,
head inclined, un-moving until
several minutes in I realized
my heart was pounding
like a marathon, like war,
like shooters in the street
see the child in my arms.




jan 2017