growing gills
After "Being a Person" by William Stafford
“suddenly this dream you are having matches
everyone’s dream, and the result is the world”
the synchronicity, perfect
beating like a heart in a box
the ticking of a metronome
swing, swing, tick off into the air
it’s a moment you can breathe when you had been drowning before
except now everyone, everyone, is drowning with you
do you think I’ll grow gills, mom?
learn to breathe in an unbreathable space
maybe we can all grow gills at the same time
and nobody would need the air
we could survive, happy, with mutual understanding
but the world is a single second
it passed already when you read that line
the space in the breath that happens
before you plunge into the water again
you’ve got a taste of it now, the air
did it stick between your teeth like taffy?
did you like the taste or did you like it better when you were suffering with them all?
that combination of right place, right time
when everyone is linked
and a whole world is gaping in one swing of a pendulum
so don’t lose it, don’t wait
for the swinging to go out of sync
you lose all of the wonder
you missed the timeframe, the ocean’s closed
the continents have formed how they have, you’re done!
growing gills is only possible if we make it that way
the clarity you see while dreaming
of what the world can be
in such a limited space of a moment's pause
a warning of what we cannot waste
it rises up higher than anything has ever been
dissipates into the air, gone
the ticking is too loud now, too intermittent
its synchronicity is now unheard of -
never again seen or replicated
gone too fast, too soon
the water is too deep to breathe in.
Copyright © Lola Granger | Year Posted 2025
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