NOW IS WHEN EINSTEIN SHATTERS THE UNIVERSE WITH HIS MIND

Fred Voss

Now
is when you must do whatever you must do now
is when Christ hangs on the cross now
is when anything might happen now
the ant
stops on the rock in the blazing mountain sun
and a monk
has no thoughts sitting on a bare floor
for half an hour now
we are alive now the breath moves in and out of our lungs and now
is when railroad tracks are laid across a continent now
a telescope revolves about the earth
and a machinist sets a dial on a machine to bore a perfect cavity
through the casing of a jackhammer now
is all the love that we will ever know
and every doomsday
and revolution
there will ever be and now
is when you will arrive for your 11:50 am dental
appointment now
the phones are ringing
and the crows are cawing
and the chess player figures a way to move a pawn across the board
to take a queen
and the rain drips off the helmet of a soldier
who will tie Dostoyevsky to the firing squad stake
and the triangle
is thought of for the first time
and you put your foot down
on the sidewalk and get off
the bus now
is all
we have

From Carnegie Hall with Tin Walls
Bloodaxe Books, 1998
Copyright © 1998 Fred Voss

used with permission of Bloodaxe Books

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