Hurray for the Modern
- Hurray for the Modern
And this mechanistic world in whichall of us are trapped. Listen: there is
wildness inside the night. In my mouthare teeth. Are words like hello,
and goodbye, and sadness whichis pervasive and comic and like
a bad movie unavoidable. The newsreads like a story of fire
and death and endless, insufferableseasons: this summer, wet
and heavy, and the dreaded winter,which is a white nightmare
in my mind. Tonight, I'll goout into the air to sing
an old song. I'll vibrate with nostalgiafor that world without
pain. Without you, I'll godown to the water to perform dumb
rituals and bad magicand the stars will go on lighting up
the sky. My pocket knifeis exactly this
sharp. On its bright edgeis balanced everything that is visible. [End Page 47]
I see: cars colliding withthe greasy air. Where
will I go when allthe clocks wind down
and what to sayto the moon's glowing
face? Tell me:if you know. When you are near. [End Page 48]
Paul Guest is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Because Everything Is Terrible, and a memoir, One More Theory About Happiness. A Guggenheim Fellow and Whiting Award winner, he lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
