Defying all classes of laws (natural or un)
Two parallel lines intersected at the curing
of a concrete floor. Tracked through the sultry balm
of citrus groves, past rough-scaled slash pine and scrub,
to opposing sameness—to two hands, and two eyes,
and the adjacent impossibility of two worlds
and walls within four walls, where today the
obsolescence of ago disembarks. There
is a dimmer history than can be painted over
in white without a hint of grey.
A necessary step is the leveling, and the bleeding,
and airing out of the smoothing surface. A necessary step
is the hands that wield the trowel gradually meeting
the two middles. A necessary step is the acknowledgement
of remaining blemishes, but an open expanse across
which to join.
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Notes: I wrote this poem a good while back after visiting a nearby building that had been repurposed as offices but had originally been the local segregated train station. I never posted it, but revisited it this week in light of current events. The organization who acquired the building and renovated it intentionally left in place bits of the building’s history so we would be reminded. That mindfulness feels so important.
Photo by Aditya Wardhana on Unsplash
caroline ridgway 