Amory Blaine’s Reviews > Second Childhood: Poems > Status Update

[A Vision]

Even in the city you look for a place that welcomes you. You actually want to be found!
Being found is the polar opposite of making a vow.
You are a pot of gold and not the arc of the rainbow.
When you sit down on a stone, face up to the sun, you can't help but think, /Mine, mine./
And you don't have to promise anything to anyone in time.

[A Vision]

Some old people want to leave this earth and experience another.
They don't want to commit suicide. They want to wander out of sight
without comrades or luggage.

[...]

Mysticism "provides a path for those who ask the way to get lost.
It teaches how not to return," wrote Michel de Certeau.

[A Child In Old Age]

Your brain is still becoming
an independent being

while your heart always needs air.

[...]

One drop on your tongue and you won't ask for more.
You've thought this somewhere before.

[Born Below]

"Don't smile. It's ugly. You'll get lines."

[...]

Her hand over her eyes indicates she herself is
blocking the light.

[Second Childhood]
If we had been grown-ups, we wouldn't have been able to see the stars or the storm. We would have perished.
So my commitment to childhood has once again been affirmed.
Read the signs, not the authorities.

[Second Childhood]
I decided to stop becoming an adult. That day I chose to blur facts, fail at tests, and slouch under a hood.
[...]
Throughout my life I have remained vague and have accepted the humiliation it brought, almost as if stupefaction were a gift. I willfully repeat my mistakes over and over and never learn from experience.
Every day has been a threat to this attitude so I avoid obligations.