Peopled Possibilities

art by Sneha Lakamsani, words by Helen Do

Surrendering to change

Tumbling through

The unpredictable and uncertain

It must be the work of many things

All larger than self

Fate? Maybe 

Every thing predestined

Presupposed

Happening because it should

I’d like to think so

Regardless, I owe it to you

And all the spheres that carry each of us

Those bigger things reverberate

In the soft hum of one hundred nervous students on show day

The fearless, familial laughter of the movie theater crowd

And the brown raccoon lying on Brandon Ave

With its back arched and head down

I feel them in the elastic wrapping my hair

Though it isn’t mine

In Dr. Chong hauling bottled water up the hill

Refilling those willing

To voice their love for Palestine

I see them in your cursive letters 

On an old birthday card I read every few moons

On the day George brings his big dog to school

Washington softens every blue in the room

That magic something is down the green velvet stairs

Where notes of saxophone and trumpet  

Ease my spirit

Spice the air

It’s between classes when strangers scatter

They don’t know it, but they’re holding me 

And not alone

We’re the woven yarn of a sweater pocket

Holding a stray penny and perfect stone

In the pup we name after an orphan in a French tale

(Remi has a cute butt and a nice smell)

On the postcards with the lighthouse and the lilies 

Thank you for being a terrific friend, I write and mail

Sometimes, I am made to take a sharp breath

And thanks to your having left hair tie after tie behind

There are dozens of circling fibers to catch me

When I fall

Emerging changed must be the work of many things

Most apparent of all

We make us possible