Leap Day

Suppose that for just one day you are not trapped in habitual thinking. Let’s call it "leap day" and imagine that green forces rise through human beings until they finally see the earth as a collective heritage and our planet is no longer a real estate sandbox populated by covetous children. Yes and as John Lennon said, "and no religion too."

**

Meanwhile, suddenly everyone in America is lonely. I was always so. It never occurred to me there was anything different. As a boy I’d watch the other kids playing ball. They shouted quite a bit. And so they were lonely too. They were like flames vanishing inside red coals.

**

Cripple’s Lament

    “they say I'm alienated from reality
    as if I had the power to decide life”

                    —Sanni Purhonen

They say I’m blind and they swap my eyes
For jellyfish—or a coral in darkness

They say I’m nothing more than wind enraged

For cover, in polite society they say I’m like them
But they don’t invite me to the grand reunion

Its written someplace I’m a match end

When I was small I carried
A dead pocket watch

I thought one day I’ll have a clean reality

They say I’m a dry season

They change their minds: I’m a rumor of tears

They say I’m a poor infinity

I’m not afraid

**

Anyway, so on leap day the cripples no longer stand for, no longer represent abjection. And, as Transtromer once wrote, the houses walk sideways like crabs and the sun makes statues blink.