“…hey. pal. how do i get to town from here?”
“…well, just take a right where they're
going to build that new shopping mall,
go straight past where they're going to put in the freeway,
take a left at what's going to be the new sports center,
and keep going until you hit the place where
they're thinking of building that drive-in bank.
You can't miss it.”
Laurie Anderson [Big Science]
If I was,
and I’m not going to
but if I was to attempt to summarize 12 months
tie it in a bow
with a pithy phrase
or twee comment: if I
WAS going to attempt
to do that
I would not choose this past year.
It was too much.
It held, within it, far too much
of whatever years are made of.
The same number of days
but each somehow longer.
The same amount of time
at a far greater density.
And so much change
not just at solstices and equinoxes
but, like, all the time
and BIG ones, too
one right after the other
personal, local, national, worldwide
historical
it’s like change was on sale
at COSTCO
in those giant packages
that only fit in garages
and we had to eat some everyday
or it would spoil and we’d waste it.
and I normally love change
I don’t even have to melt cheese on top of it
but last year
I did lose my taste for it, somewhat
And more than twice
the game board that I was playing on
switched beneath me from chess
to checkers
to backgammon
to chutes and ladders
all without warning
but I kept rolling dice
and moving (what I hoped was probably) forward
so here I am. here, we all are
we get no choice as we never can be anywhere else
”I’m right here / over here/ up here/ down here”
still here.
If I WAS to try
to summarize
the last 12 months
(which I am not going to do)
I would choose to mention the bookstore.
The one that closed
two blocks from work
to be replaced by nothing
that could soothe the soul
or inspire the mind
or tickle the funnybone
or capture the imagination
its replacement rumored to
be a new pickleball court
I am disappointed that the bookstore is not here anymore
and would frame the bookstore’s close somewhat symbolically,
as a prime example of a trend of ill conceived ideas
and curious priorities
“…there are problems with the infrastructure
concerns about the narrative
an issue with the overall direction – “
but I’m not gonna do that
because I am thankful that we’re all here
it’s all happening
right here
right where we are
even though
so many days
I would much rather
it was all happening
over there
somewhere
as lately I find reality somewhat exhausting
and more difficult to navigate
because I realized that I’m mapping the world
through well-worn used-to-be(s)
calling the bridges the names we used to call them
rather than the new ones on their giant metal plaques
my faith in spectral signposts and directions written in pencil
on tattered notecards
because I remember where that used to be
and what used to be on that corner
and how we used to get there,
but don’t know exactly where THIS is.
If I was
to attempt
to express the year to come
I would smile
because if our feet become weary
and the paths are destroyed
and all of our road maps are set on fire
then I guess we’ll all just have to
fly
[Thank you so much for another year.
Enjoy your day.]
- Jd Michaels
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