NATE PRITTS
THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD
1.
You wake up in a mess
of stale light.
The hour is later than you wanted it to be
& your heart your skin
both are on fire.
2.
Some days
you wake up it’s the enemy
surrounding you
& the heat that you feel
is a warning
to never let go
to always be ready
3.
to summon your strength
for what lies ahead.
What lies ahead
is just more of this slow time
the time that I spend trying
not to remember.
I fold into myself & worry about this.
I forget myself best in the morning
when the outside world is quiet
when the tree shadows
are just forming.
4.
Always be ready
to disappear.
The alternative to this surrender
is blind
desperation to enumerate
the things that matter most
but I always fall flat
when I try to get specific.
Instead I just let myself get bland
sink
those rhythms of loss so certain
my only comfort.
5.
I’m there too quiet
or trying to be
so anxious & ready but learning new pleasures
how to stand still
how to let the wave hit me with force
6.
while I try to focus try to keep
being alert.
I write a new poem for you
everyday each one sadder
than the last
though that’s not at all how I’m feeling.
Breathe in the clear air
breathe it in & let it go.
The real colors of this world
are enough.
7.
Hit me with force
instead of missing the movement
insteadfocusing
on all the wrong things.
I predict all the outcomes.
I write down the conclusions.
I forced it all to happen before
it did. You wake up
in a mess of light an occurrence
that’s easy to miss
when you rush through.
Nate Pritts is the Director and Founding Editor of H_NGM_N (2001), an independent publishing house that started as a mimeograph 'zine, and the author of eight books of poetry, including Decoherence, which won the 42 Miles Press Poetry Award and will be published in the fall of 2017. He lives in the Finger Lakes region in New York.