Rachel Lehrman
HERE COMES TOMORROW
this past never ends
never ends you say
each step- a reminder
when the door opens
out of nowhere, a blow
dissonance:
the reality that is lived out in the head
contradicts the reality of what happens
(this was not expected)
explain: I do what I must to survive
explain: I can no longer go back to what was
there is no longer the me
before this happened
who was / what is / I don’t know you see
explain: we do what we must to protect ourselves
(a sudden heaviness, gravity intensifies)
but if we felt each other’s pain?
I don’t want you to feel what I feel
you know how this ends
it’s in the shallowness of the breath
the rapid pupil dilation
is there nothing out there that can stop us?
we sing until the words lose meaning
shout until the words lose meaning:
Go ahead
Take Everything
Shatter me
Leave me
Alone in this nothing
Because this hope
Will not
WILL NOT
be put down
I can almost imagine it--
ROADSIDE:
trash piled higher than the curb
bottle caps, a ring from a six pack
tight around the bird’s beak
what has become of this world
said her mother, mother’s mother,
grandmother’s father, you say
the apples fall prematurely this year
hard and green and not even
the squirrels will eat them
MURMURS OF US
On the sides of the boat, the waves’ rippled erosion. See how the trees grow in the direction
of the wind? This is how the inanimate speak. Torn edge of a skirt stitched with too bright
thread. Touch over time, now a groove in the handle. Think like the dolphins think.
Remnants of paint on the side of a house impart feelings, like sadness leftover from a dream.
Look, the blue-green stain of copper in the basin.
IMMERSION (excerpted from Cinematics)
the mind follows the senses
a life-time in the span of an hour
what kind of world is this?
(time lapse)
the long rest of winter
then, from so much nothing-
a touch of colour
light / dark / light / dark
the orange husk of dawn
(wait for it)
the scene changes
a child’s voice
her wish
is our wish
her tears
our tears
can’t you see we are in this together?
the red of her hair / our hair
camouflaged with the red of autumn
sounds of waves, our
collective sigh
muscles tense, hands tremble
why?
don’t forget
who you are / who we’ve been
when it’s over
this past never ends
never ends you say
each step- a reminder
when the door opens
out of nowhere, a blow
dissonance:
the reality that is lived out in the head
contradicts the reality of what happens
(this was not expected)
explain: I do what I must to survive
explain: I can no longer go back to what was
there is no longer the me
before this happened
who was / what is / I don’t know you see
explain: we do what we must to protect ourselves
(a sudden heaviness, gravity intensifies)
but if we felt each other’s pain?
I don’t want you to feel what I feel
you know how this ends
it’s in the shallowness of the breath
the rapid pupil dilation
is there nothing out there that can stop us?
we sing until the words lose meaning
shout until the words lose meaning:
Go ahead
Take Everything
Shatter me
Leave me
Alone in this nothing
Because this hope
Will not
WILL NOT
be put down
I can almost imagine it--
ROADSIDE:
trash piled higher than the curb
bottle caps, a ring from a six pack
tight around the bird’s beak
what has become of this world
said her mother, mother’s mother,
grandmother’s father, you say
the apples fall prematurely this year
hard and green and not even
the squirrels will eat them
MURMURS OF US
On the sides of the boat, the waves’ rippled erosion. See how the trees grow in the direction
of the wind? This is how the inanimate speak. Torn edge of a skirt stitched with too bright
thread. Touch over time, now a groove in the handle. Think like the dolphins think.
Remnants of paint on the side of a house impart feelings, like sadness leftover from a dream.
Look, the blue-green stain of copper in the basin.
IMMERSION (excerpted from Cinematics)
the mind follows the senses
a life-time in the span of an hour
what kind of world is this?
(time lapse)
the long rest of winter
then, from so much nothing-
a touch of colour
light / dark / light / dark
the orange husk of dawn
(wait for it)
the scene changes
a child’s voice
her wish
is our wish
her tears
our tears
can’t you see we are in this together?
the red of her hair / our hair
camouflaged with the red of autumn
sounds of waves, our
collective sigh
muscles tense, hands tremble
why?
don’t forget
who you are / who we’ve been
when it’s over
Copyright © Rachel Lehrman 2019
Rachel Lehrman is a poet, writer, educator and mother currently living in Gainesville, FL. Her poetry has been published in several magazines including Molly Bloom 4 and 9. Her chapbook Second Waking is available from Oystercatcher Press. Rachel’s work also appears in the anthologies Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets(Shearsman 2010), Sea Pie: A Shearsman Anthology of Oystercatcher Poetry (2012) and The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide (University of Arizona Press 2016).
