The Fiddleback

poem by Emily Pettit

So escape unlike the nape of your neck
is not always there. Not always a way
that works. Away with wanting escape
might be the best way. Like listen to the song
too many times to count. Make it true.
Waiting for something good can be good to do.
Waiting for something bad is something else.
Waiting for reasons is constantly complicated.
Like having a body. Or wanting a somebody.
The story starts with a ship. Explain impossible
parts of the movements your mind is making.
The ship making many shadows. To separate.
To classify. To analyze. To take too much air in.
Shape perception, size perception, relative position
perception. Emotions roll around in this. A map
of pools of light made by each ship light.
Someone sings sweetly to someone and you
get to hear it. You see things that are not here,
but are dear. You have to see things that are
not here and you fear. The nature of some images
preserved in a space behind your face, far too far
to find, to fix. And yes, some are large permanent
changes in shape. A ship moving through
the water.

——–
Emily Pettit