The Herd on Pause
A poem about the space between morning, noon and night.
The Herd on Pause
They’re just one big herd
They move like a moth to light
They don’t know time
like the kind when you’re
doing nothing
They aren’t winning
other than:
bonuses promotions
awards marriages
children
They don’t have the all-seeing
wide lens
slow motion framed
eyes of the enlightened
(so the enlightened say)
But is perhaps the lens
too wide? and all the
tiny intricacies of space
between
morning noon night
are there
within the herd
of eyeless moths
Maybe they aren’t worn away
but blurred / blended together
in a different, delicate space
where peace is found in the
flow of chaos, chaos of
alarms emails appointments
spreadsheets presentations
ball games date night
baby shower funeral
therapist calls bills groceries
Aren’t the glimmers of life’s
Shining Art on Pause
there still
when he wraps up a work call
from home
sits for a moment
outside
sips down his beer
enjoys the eruption of laughter
coming from land he owns
inhaling fumes of
pot roast and
potatoes
(instead of
chemically spiced
cinnamon smoke)
he notices his old hand
and in a moment feels
the thin
silk dress
his honey wore
that night he first took it off her
and isn’t it nice
she is still there
and so is the dress
With that
he doesn’t check the time
goes right inside, welcomed
back to his daydream
Who are the enlightened
then?
the dreamers the artists
the monks
holding all value in unreality
in the abstracts, the universals
the blinding beam of theory
We move like a moth to light
only once we get there
we burn to a crisp
Because the enlightened
meditate walk theorize
drink write smoke
sometimes eat
under the heavy laws of
all that is
only to serve a self–
proclaimed purpose
of helping the herd
understand why
They may very well find
how to get through life
But not through the day
Not the spilled coffee while
late for work
not when the dog has fleas
and so does your child
not the man harassing
your skirt in summer
not you missing it
in the winter
So I inhale another and
notice time
Sadly I smile because
those digital numbers mean
so very much to me
They are just one big herd
I used to say
they talk and sleep and shit
together
they must not see
they’re doing it all in the
same space
And now
with my unknowns
my intangible
universal theories of
nothingness
I see that same space
as safety
beneath the lone
buzzing light
driving us all madMore to read:
