THE THREAD | Solitudes & Multitudes

Solitudes & Multitudes

It’s never quite enough to keep
just one living thing in your home.
Get a dog, a plant, a partner, a child.
It simply won’t do to live alone.
What will you do with yourself,
gaze in the mirror every so often
and speak as if there were two of you?
As if you could split your mind in half
and carry on like that?
As if you could imagine a second
self somewhere inside you,
someone in the same body
who might want to be invited
to this meeting? This party of,
what is it, how many of you are there?
As if you could say, “Oh hello there,
it is so nice to meet again,
oh it is so good to see you
after all this time.
Are you still the same as always?
Of course you are.
Have things changed, or changed you?
Are there changes you have chosen?
Of course. Please tell me.
Look me straight in the eye,
tell me you don’t remember the hours
we used to spend just like this,
reflecting
not to practice a performance,
not to fret the imperfections,
but to briefly glimpse what it is like
to be possessed by slight distances 
and yet not be divided.
Yes.
It is good to see you again.

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What I’m currently reading: Sarah Fawn Montgomery’s Halfway from Home, Italo Calvino’s Mr. Palomar, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Anger

What I’m currently listening to: Wilco’s A Ghost is Born, The Black Creatures’ By Thy Hand