As You Spoke
for K.W.
Michael Lauchlan
You leaned forward in the restaurant,
proclaimed all of us “wired,” denied
the Cartesian isolation, where we hear
someone scream and must guess (or
fail in our own dark cinema to know)
what caused the rankling slash of sound.
As you spoke, I rocked back in my chair
tethered to your hands and face,
to your voice, your years of research;
and you leaned back, turned Prague
in your hands, turned old friends,
faceted rocks and bitter losses like
so many fossils dug out of some
forbidding plain and delivered now
for you to hold up, to turn,
for a moment, your eyes upon them,
your bright, voracious eyes.
for K.W.
Michael Lauchlan
You leaned forward in the restaurant,
proclaimed all of us “wired,” denied
the Cartesian isolation, where we hear
someone scream and must guess (or
fail in our own dark cinema to know)
what caused the rankling slash of sound.
As you spoke, I rocked back in my chair
tethered to your hands and face,
to your voice, your years of research;
and you leaned back, turned Prague
in your hands, turned old friends,
faceted rocks and bitter losses like
so many fossils dug out of some
forbidding plain and delivered now
for you to hold up, to turn,
for a moment, your eyes upon them,
your bright, voracious eyes.