Even though I know how very far

KATE BRYANT

When I wrote this I was thinking about some of the things Assata and I have been talking about this year: our hopes and fears about the future, and how to share the reality of our experiences through words.

The eclipse made me think of

two cartoon mice singing to one another

Fievel and his sister, whose name you might not remember

but it’s Tanya Mousekewitz

And later a steel drum band covering the song

someone sending it to me before the reality problem chasmed between us

And later, quite recently, two celestial bodies converging along their paths

the way they do from time to time

Their pace is leisurely and relentless, a way I’d like to be

A momentary awareness of the shared sky and then we’re back

wrestling strong theories and donating to GoFundMe

Money sent to strangers for any and every thing

A meditation made material, without the pause or the peace

All year I have been tired and awake

or asleep with my mind racing

There’s a story that keeps reoccurring

where we’re not seeing the same thing

even if we’re in the same place, looking in the same direction

I’m trying to say what it looks like over here

and I want to know what it looks like where you are

The future depends on us speaking precisely

so that’s what we are learning to do