x
we accidentally imagine
by andrew yoon
this is a book of mutable poetry. it exists along a
field of probability with an effectively endless number
of possible realizations. every time this page is opened,
a program generates an entirely new version of the book.
some elements change more often than others. the random
seed for the version you are looking at is 150847.
because there is a seed number stored in this window's url,
refreshing this page or opening a link to this url
will render the exact same contents you see now.
if you would like to share or keep a link to this version of the book,
you can use this .
if you want to visit or share a random new version of the book,
use this one .
to link to an exact version of a particular poem,
hover over the poem's title area and click the link
which appears that says "fixed link". you will also
see one that says "mutable link" - this points to where
that particular mutable poem lands in a random new book.
try following the mutable links of a particular poem through
different versions and see how it transforms.
you can print or (if your computer has the ability) download a
print-ready pdf of this version of the book using your browser's
printing functionality. some elements of the display will change
to make it more suitable for printing. (you may want to modify your
printing settings to disable the automatic header/footer generation
most browsers do.) please note that as i make
improvements to the mechanics of the program, the content you see
here will likely change, even with a fixed seed - if you want a
truly fixed version, please use the printing method.
the code for this entire project is under the gpl3 license and is
completely free to read, use, and redistribute. the most up-to-date
code is available on github
here .
andrew is a composer, programmer, poet, and bad pianist. you can
find some of his other projects online at his personal website
here .
...
we accidentally imagine
by andrew yoon
seed 150847
it is 2025. we wonder what to say next,
and the wind is still blowing.
energy which dust, how
squirrels trees of quickly. turn
out to a a last clinging with
rock glue, one facts falling
smiles, the hugs, paints
violins the timer our best
around on themselves while we
muffled voices from moment all
around us is landing on this
piece of is can somehow feel it
on don't think. we don't
themselves or not and because never
sun our is glowing the going
keeps keep and in an instant
are able to for is just in
being absorbed by
transformed into some kind of
kinetic of wonder wood so how.
the end it will part without
a without another with
and facts falling screams
and and the hugs, we keep
notice. around on room and
can't but notice landing how
the whole room is glowing
and we can skin and all we
repeating somehow. we don't care
never happy human the sun is
laughing on our is and the, the
keeps pushing trees a smiling
everything around us for what it
person and the. away, being
transformed energy makes
and trangles into
shapes sort sort other things,
other other and and fall in the
always the wrong direction,
point. goals thoughts again.
ideas and. goals sneaking
into the ideas spray paints
ideas and.. goals sneaking
again again, all these colors
and ideas permeating while
happens squares and . and
trangles shapes sort of making,
themselves, shapes sort of making
making themselves trangles
into other things things,
shapes the geometries buttons
seem to the or going wrong or.
goals ideas and interactions
concrete, all these colors.
happens and trangles trangles
into making and other
themselves pushing up up pushing
buttons seem buttons and
dominoes which not maybe that.
goals be the point. goals
sneaking into the thoughts again
goals sneaking. spray paints
and interactions concrete
, all these and concrete,
all these colors with a
while colors concrete
concrete interactions
interactions. spray paints and
colors and ideas permeating
just happens and and
trangles into other themselves
up behind the geometries
and making making
themselves up the geometries and to
fall in the not maybe that
thoughts thoughts concrete, all
these colors and. spray
paints and concrete
permeating while we watch outlines
trangles it outlines shapes sort
of geometries each and and
relationships themselves up up behind
buttons buttons geometries and
relationships the geometries
geometries which. not always seem
to fall relationships
pushing buttons the always the
wrong direction.. or maybe
that could be the point again
. spray, all these paints
and concrete concrete
permeating all these colors with it
outlines outlines outlines sort
of making and trangles
outlines of squares and outlines
of squares things and
themselves relationships
relationships which always seem. not
going the or intended that
could be the sneaking into the
that could
tangling wires into
these bizarre shapes, rugs
with strange colors and
melodies waitingly, taking deep
breaths before the speech where
we finally speak our
minds: "won't everybody
please, please stop this
cruelty? can't we see how
unnecessary it is?" some glass
window creaking under winds,
some oil spilled in a parking
lot. how again the why's and
who's before and after or some
some behind throughingly, a
manual for writers of research
papers about electrical
engineering and game theory,
complex analysis and early
marxist painting; the
walls of this place have
shoulders that are
sagging, somewhere in these
pages an actual answer to a
question that matters. a new pair
of jeans, a holiday
decoration left up for months, a
lightbulb which doesn't fit even
though we could have sworn the
size was right at the store.
color combinations making us
feel sick and wonder why we
care about the dissonance,
why we should prefer one to
the other. we conclude that
we're all just bits of air
moving with the waves of some
song we can't hear: now
banging on the wooddrums, the
thoughts and the doubts, hopes or
imaginations throwing fists at the
organ keyboard, some body of
loud waters, some
electrical structure groaning in
rains particles trapped in
the breezings, the sine
waves, the eyeballs thrown
left and right or up and down
or is that a sign of
happiness, of
peacefulness? who's to tell what's
harmony and what's dissonance?
who's to tell the words of the
song when each moment's just
a few bits of data? hard to
see the picture from a
pixel, hard to find the poem
through a word a letter an inkdot
the arounds and behinds
lost somewhere in the mix,
the breath being exhaled
before we even noticed it was
inside our bodies, each note
rising just a little higher or
just a little more like dirty
wallpaper: we ask each other where
it happened. where the
music got faster. where the
blue became green, where the
light was switched on and the
newer waves began to
interfere with things and distort
the shapes, canceling out
or multiplying or
performing more complicated
operations until the noise is noise
and the signal is noise and
the noise is still noise yet
somehow wider, more sideways
and spinningly and
uppingly and backwardly, more
harsh and out of sync, now neon
colorlines and batteries, strange
gaps in the spiral not
patterns but something about
them which makes us feel the
walls are moving further away
and the room is becoming
smaller, that one moment is
another and the second hand is
somehow different this time
around. we cannot help but go to
sleep again, this time with a
strange smile and already
looking forward to coffee. this
time with socks and a thicker
blanket. this time with the
windows open: and in comes the
cooler air.
we keep asking
questions like “will this make me
happy?” when instead it might be
more interesting to ask what
it would sound like if the
leaves on every tree were poems
written on little sheets of
paper and everybody in the
world began to read them out
loud all at the same time and
then the wind began to blow
and the poems went flying in
the air all around and
everybody just watched it happen
in complete silence we
can't help but smile a little,
and then a lot. and someone
hugs the stranger to their
left and we all begin to
laugh. we ask ourselves
another question we can't hear
because of all the wind and
poems, and that's just fine we
realize we didn't want to know
the answers anyway when
there are so many confusing
and beautiful things all
around us anyway. we just keep
laughing and grabbing poems out
of the air, sometimes
deciding to read them and
othertimes using them as napkins.
the wind, the wind is
laughing too.
we never seem to notice
the changes until they've
already happened. or at least
they are well into
happening. we wonder why that is:
the clouds evaporating and
the sun coming out, the air
getting so slightly warmer; a
single row of bricks painted a
different color. who the behinds
through before how's and where
when whenever the
againagain the words repeatingly
as we notice a little
cottonfluff drifting toward us. it
sticks to our ink, and we ask
again where meaning comes
from. a million coins being
thrown every instant, fields
of possibility so
terrifyingly wide staring us in the
eye so intensely we have to
look away and we notice this
little bug just flying around,
landing, and flying around
again. flying, landing, and
flying around again.
quietingly, the
softmurmurs not trying to say
anything in particular or
convince anyone of anything,
prefering to let things just exist
the way they are and stay the
same when they need to stay
the same and change when
they need to change, or not
even need to stay the same or
need to change but maybe
instead want to stay the same or
want to change, or rather: it
just happens. it just
happens, and it keeps just
happening. the softmurmers not
even speaking about what's
going on or what's not going on
but instead just
mentioning about whatever is on
their mind at that moment,
letting it out and letting it go,
the sound waves not
disappearing but echoing off a
thousand surfaces and every
blade of grass, split and
muffled and distorted and
echoed until they sound like
dead trees, the sun pushing
the waves around a little
through the screen door, gnats
in the air just sort of
moving around.
the smell of damp sticks
from outside. a slowmoving
sound. we notice how
everything is so pink maybe we
remember why, but for now we
don't. “can it stay like this
for a while?” and, for once,
it does.
silence and quiet now. a
small voice humming and
laughing in the other room. a
crystal or some melting snow.
behinds toward while again
around where's or why's while
leftandright shrinking silently. a
wooden creak. a scratch. all
centers things happening all
around, things just happening
and just being the way they
are. and we realize that this
is a beautiful thing. that
this is a beautiful thing.
every walls of about,
care a someone scratch about
behind the desk happened
happened did it if things purpose
sort of of happen just happen
close our like like we are are
floating and feel incense it open
now. we this now small came
from where what caused
wooden and scrape along along
the wooden panels panels
and paint every of freckle
and scratch the lot desk it
purpose purpose of of their own
somehow. a feel a moment close
our a moment and feel we we
outside like outside foreheads
somehow in to open the windows
now hands now our now we
notice dents floorboard dents
groove on face the the desk
happened , if someone purpose if
if if these things just
sort we close feel like we are
outside our in incense is
somehow it might be sensation in
our in the caused each
groove and and paint wooden
panels and walls the wooden
panels freckle and lot about ,
in , if of if their own
somehow. we close our somehow .
we wonder what would
make us happy, what would
make this headache go away
which keeps distracting us
from everything going on the
scratching pens and observations,
a quote out of context we
leave the incense burning
when we go to sleep even
though we know it's a fire
hazard and it puts our lives in
danger and the lives of all the
other people living above and
below us, and all of the people
we know and the people who
care about what happens to us
even though we never asked
them to. we wonder why it
should matter that something
happens to anyone, we wonder why
we care. and everything is
so quiet.
the corner of the room
empty except for the little
grooves in the floorboard, we
smile. the moments going and
going in such a beautiful way
that we can't take our eyes
off it, noticing just how
inconsistent things are, how blurry
and arbitrary the
differences seem between things and
people and ideas, how musical a
painting can sound the ink never
seems to dry.
we listen to the sounds
of all these people we've
never met laughter and
conversation, pointing toward their
destination as they explain to each
other how they learned about
the place. so many
different types of hats. all these
little motions, events going
back and forth without
leaving any sort of permanent
mark because even roads and
dams and enormous statues
collapse and fade eventually,
and things just do what they
do what they always were
going to do anyway. we try to
figure out where the patterns
in a cloud of leaves come
from, whether we made it all up
or if maybe something
could really be there, that
maybe the leaves decided or
felt some need or urge to grow
in such a way that these
grid patterns come up when we
look at the branches from
below. and now someone we know
comes walking by our sitting
place, but we don't look up so
they don't see us so they
don't say anything. or maybe
they noticed us looking away
and quietly understood
that sometimes it's okay to
just not say anything, that
sometimes we can just be
ourselves. we don't know, really.
and they walk out of sight.
and another thing happens
which doesn't matter, and we
glance at the clock and wonder
if it's eight yet, and it
isn't now we notice that the
sun is behind us, and that
our shadow is in front of us.
we notice how strange our
hair looks when the wind
moves it around into
different shapes. we try to smear
the ink and lead with our
hand but somehow it all
sticks to the paper so well and
remains perfectly legible. we
were hoping that the smudges
might make us somehow misread
a word or note or two and
help us think of something we
wouldn't have otherwise, but
maybe a different technique
or execution would be
better, more appropriate. we
question the idea of relevancy
for a moment, and let it go.
we close our eyes and just
listen to the wind and
airplanes and feel the sun warming
our legs. we wonder what
could come from this just
about anything, really we
wonder if anything could or
couldn't prepare us for it, and if
it would matter anyway
conversation going on
heated while we do our best
getting a little more mistakes
while becoming on outside and
with little faster
repetition getting more faster a
fewer mistakes. little
faster and with fewer mistakes
. fewer the conversation
going on the conversation
going on to pretend we
repetition listening. getting a
little, repetition getting
every aren't we do our best
going best outside going best
to becoming heated while
we do our best to pretend we
aren't getting every
repetition getting. a little
faster and with fewer the
conversation going on outside
becoming heated while we do our
best to heated. little
mistakes on outside
conversation a conversation going on
to pretend we aren't
listening repetition getting
more a more accurate . every
to pretend we to pretend we
more accurate, a. every
repetition getting a to pretend we
aren't listening. every
repetition getting more accurate.
the faster little more
accurate, a and with. the
conversation our best to pretend our
best to heated while we do our
best listening repetition
getting a little more faster and
with fewer mistakes while we
do our best listening, a
little mistakes while we.
every repetition. every a
accurate little more accurate
every little faster and with
little mistakes. with little
going on outside pretend we
becoming going the conversation
outside becoming heated fewer
mistakes. outside do on with.
fewer mistakes. the
conversation our we pretend while we
do our best to pretend
heated on outside becoming on
outside conversation going on
faster on outside while we do
our
why another when we
writing without going across
lines one with a scratchy pen
through our just with just
happen we can't help but smile a
little and it is that ever at how
absurd is that we days the week
time might sound someone
were were trying to about
listened trying much about
scheduling and thinking (not
worrying ) about for breakfast
tomorrow might place of another
when in place of we cross one
thing any particular with,
just scratchy pen and
straight on to ear we suspect that
it but smile a little
absurd things like and days at
the same to suspect nobody
is they were trying and if
they were trying write down
trying to write things down
much and start thinking (not
worrying ) about what be thinking
(not ) why we when we are
without any, just one going the
next word which bounces ear
and still just just going
with it through our ear just
going with it we suspect
things just happen somehow and
and it laugh at we ever even
about and days of the, two
things at suspect nobody is if
nobody to down as they were
trying things down trying to
write down as they write
things down . we stop and
worrying scheduling and books
thinking (not tomorrow or why we
place of thing when
particular of to particular sense
of intention one a pen and
going through on the word with
that happen then laugh at how
ever things like happening
at the might if at someone
were to listen (we suspect
nobody if at the same time might
sound things happening same
suspect nobody is listen
suspect nobody is they write
they were trying to as
listened. we stop and start
worrying scheduling and we so
much start so much
scheduling and books thinking
breakfast tomorrow or of when we
intention going across and going
straight on to and going through
ear bounces . we can't
happen and we can't smile ever
even things things
happening time might sound ) if
they to things listened
forget to ask funny how
the sun starts coming of cue
shades so many lines of incense
is still glowing remember
that so many lines we can't
remember lines remember the
remember still our lungs we
breathe and in our breathe and we
breathe. we forget to ask
questions. to ask questions.
laughing! we can't starts coming
back right on shades of these
colors whose and lines lines we
and so remember lines and
lines and so many lines so many
many lines. smoke in forget
to questions questions!
isn't it funny how isn't funny
to! isn't isn't it we can't
smile smile colors whose
these colors whose we
remember and lines and lines. we
we is still that the stick
of of. we lines lines and
lines we colors whose names we
can't remember lines and
remember and can't lines lines
and stick of incense is
glowing glowing and becoming
smoke our lungs lungs lungs
smoke smoke we forget breathe
lungs lungs we we breathe and
we breathe. we forget
isn't it we help smile when
starts coming back right
colors colors whose we many
lines. we remember that the
stick so many stick of incense
incense is is still smoke in we
saw good as we don't
remember we these different,
smiling we one of us smiled why
because why because one ? know us
gestures amplifying because
first? these social gestures
of who don't know gestures
amplifying amplifying across a
group across people who
thought the joke of it on a in life
life single in this traffic
jam, a different if but
there there isn't just
arriving and of them them none
them ever keep and arriving
from into, these stories,
incomprehensible incomprehensible tree
, options options. we saw
first and good
systems all around us
and our lives fracturing
breaking apart piece by piece as
we keep trying to glue
things back together with
words and theories and poems
and cathedrals
architectures in the mind and and later
in concrete, we begin to
feel jittery as we realize we
haven't stood up in hours, this
chair and its arms a little too
narrow, pressing against the
sides of our skulls, plurals
and singulars not having so
much significance to us now
when the lights are
flickering so subtly. we pray but
don't know who we are praying
to who we are praying for,
what we want, what we should
want. fading. fading.
trying to inside notice
this making notice actions
but try sun of sound making
this. not not of our of our
fuzzy fuzzy of of sound .
breathe again the thisthat
theringly hand breathe for for the
sun keeps making that sound
and from seasonal
allergies call we we at the voices
make make make this sort of
harmony our chests and making
making us us feel not warmer but
. work and another? the
vibrations more quiet trying to
inside sounds the inside
notice kind of . of. pause and
breathe for a while breathe
where, crackling and the the
keeps making that sound and a.
we don't recognize
recognize smile people the voices
voices make this sort the
vibrations buzzing these inside
our us us one work quiet the ?
vibrations more more lean to hear
inside the inside aware not the
the sun of sound against the
grass. . we pause and breathe
for a while . where again
again the thisthat thisthat
theringly and again while all a
while a keeps making that
sound seasonal allergies we
don't can't help laughing
somehow the the the the
windchimes and of harmony against
the windchimes harmony
these acoustic and we hear all
these acoustic chests making
us feel warmer but. which
slantingway quiet every .
we accidentally
imagine ourselves as having for
a head this strangely
shaped box or a bird feeder with
a triangular roof or
something similar and we are
sitting in the front passenger
seat of an old car and someone
we care a lot about asks,
who are you? and we
think for a minute, and then
another. we aren't able to answer
with anything except a held
hand, and we somehow find
ourselves caring more about them
just because they asked.
they can't answer either,
and the grip gets tighter
and they aren't making eye
contact but that's okay because
we aren't looking anyway
and we are both these
strange wooden boxes attached
to bodies, heads without
eyes which still say so much,
eyes without laughinglines
which always find new things
to smile about an itch
behind our ears, the way this
piece of paper falls on the
ground, the sound of an overhead
lamp switching on laughing
about nothing in particular
and everything in
particular, wanting to want
everything and wanting to want
nothing, to feel everything and
to feel nothing, or at
least something the grip
getting tighter and we remember
how okay it is, how
beautiful it is and how funny it is
that poetry and music might
be the same thing after
all, that hiding is okay
sometimes and being naked is okay
too, that sometimes things
lead to other things, and
sometimes they don't, and
sometimes things just happen and
they keep just happening and
they don't stop. they don't
stop and it seems like they
never will, so it starts
making sense to just accept
this and close our eyes and
smile a little but somehow
this feels impossible. we
get frustrated and start to
do things we don't want to
do, blaming other people
for things nobody had
control over in the first place
and jumping to conclusions
and making assumptions
about other people and their
intentions and what they want or
what they are afraid of. we
forget that they are us, that
their grip is getting tighter
and that nothing is okay for
them either. we remember
that their boxy head is
crying and we have been trying
not to notice. we remember
that we are all the same
person born into different
bodies, and that this is a
beautiful thing. this is a
beautiful thing. this is a
beautiful thing.
how did we get here? the
questions which keep making their
way inside our mouths as if
we never could learn from
the last time we couldn't
answer and instead only become
more unhappy and began to
throw things at the walls with
some inexpressible anger
screaming and shouting with a red
face and bulging veins,
fists again and again against
the door not even caring
what's on the other side, too
caught up with the idea of the
door being there in the first
place another why and another
if causing the lights to
flicker and the stove to begin to
smell like something is
burning so we all try to remember
what we had done in the
kitchen last but we can't
remember, and even the attempts to
remember make us shout with fewer
words, make us scream with our
fingers and pound harder and
harder on the door while the
wood is splintering here and
there and the doorframe
appears to budge this time or
that time or this time again
and again and again
we are breathing. and we
are still breathing. one
thought and another passing by
in the street while we ask
ourselves if this is going
anywhere if we should instead be
focusing on something else like
the way the smoke is
drifting away from the incense
stick, or the sound our eyelids
make when we blink. is there a
place for rushing anymore?
the softmurmurs again,
reminding us about our breath: and
a little blue bird lands
on the windowsill. it is
singing.
wayingsong to behind or
to while while behind the
eyes and ideas how to it so
slowly but the clock seems to
working usual with those clunks
the nobody nobody the same
same care about to about the
wind the while behind the a
beforemaroon, the see how when we it so
slowly slowly but working as be
working as usual working as with
and suggest a counterpoint
counterpoint wind. the we , a a
beforemaroon, the with questions how
and with questions all
moving so clock seems as as
usual with those clunks with
working seems seems to working
woodenbits we suggest a
counterpoint and the
that nothing changes
ourselves we ask: “who you ?” are
unable to cry. and laugh. can't
when it seems like aimless
second comes our ears which
ears which is so, think of we
read laugh. we next,
actually changed really changes
. we an ourselves an
unexpected: in: are and we and laugh
, laugh aimless in the
every minute so is so, so so, so
much more important so, is so
, why we can't think with
at the of at the we we laugh
laugh, what might be next, if
anything we idea ourselves an
unexpected question in unable. we
don't know. don't. and then we
. and we begin, and these
questions are so aimless in the
aimless in place like seems like
aimless in first place when it
seems every ears which second
so much more important of a
good question begin with at
the with at the or how laugh
we laugh anything
actually over really we ask
ourselves an unexpected you don't
we don't and we are answer
to answer to answer. we
answer. then laugh see why
these so. laugh can't we
questions in first seems question
ears which is important a
good to. we wonder might be
next, if anything.
ourselves unexpected we and we
answer. we then we begin to cry.
and we see why these
questions
and just like that, the
page turns for us. the next
series of random numbers fill
the screen and we begin to
imagine dots and we begin to
connect them and agree and
disagree with them, relate to
them and question them and
share them. the page glares.
we glare. everybody is
glaring and nobody is laughing
and then one of us starts
laughing, and another one of us
starts laughing, and we are all
laughing and the paper is
laughing and the inkdots are
laughing: the numbers are
laughing too.
we wait for a few minutes
and wonder if it would be
okay for us to ask now: "is
this beautiful?" we wonder
if nobody noticed and we
watch the air just sort of move
around through the leaves. we
take another breath with the
sunlight and feel warmer.
throughs and arounds
behindingly the now nowing while
again the time continues and
stops and continues again.
circles of ink we close our eyes.
and all at once things
are so quiet, a tiny hiss
from the walls, distant
clanging of a ventilation fan. we
breathe with the sunlight,
passing clouds causing these
little pulses in the sunglow
and somehow we feel it in our
toes even though we can't
quite tell why the wind
chooses the pitches it sings
against the window, why one
harmony should point to
another, why every story has some
sort of climax where
elements and trajectories
culminate into some bigger thing
as if we had been heading
there all along as if there
were some kind of purpose
behind the penscratches or
where this leaf decides to
fall in this rotting pile we
notice a pain in our lower back
from bad posture and some
strange sense of pressure from
the bottom of our right foot
now the ventilation fan
slowing down into a periodic
banging; we notice a coin lying on
the ground but we can't make
out which side it landed on.
do we care? is it good to
care? would it matter if we
knew? we are staring at the
coin and the coin is staring
back.
consistency is another
sort of illusion another a
mean allowing things so much
difference much difference and
minds and shoelaces and our on
or trashbag up off or
tangled up in spoiled food being
spoiled food somewhere near
spoiled food somewhere fungi
the also and that this is
thing completely okay watch
the pollen we watch the
pollen drift to the ground
following in its strange the time
and with the crowd the crowd
and completely, at air's
for hours around for job
playing some role some role this
when we saying or why and it
don't quite saying , the sun's
as it thinks about way they
are when , write a and roll up
our sleeves up our sleeves
when it our when up sleeves
roll up our a new color new
color in the sky, a new, a new.
and combinations of words
and combinations our ears
while emptiness or think of it
that way. the illusion
breaking down that grain of sand
where every are pictures have
thought we had a good grip shapes
on shapes and colors; we
shuffling is a
we ask ourselves some
question we can't hear, muffled
because our heads are
underwater, this cold sensation
pressing on our foreheads while
we feel our socks becoming
heavy, cottonfibers grabbing
skin and dragging behind our
feet, cold passing between
our toes. maroon painted
walls and a thick sweater,
crinkling plastic bag full of
snacks. we notice it is becoming
later every moment, and that
as soon as we count one
number there is another in
front of that, always room for
another one or zero or eighty
seven or pencilcase
dirtyshoe, these power outlets
rusting over even though we
can't see where the water
could have come from fading in
the carpet telling which
way people walk most
without asking why they walk it
so often when it seems
there are so, so many other
ways to go and that this way
isn't even the easiest or most
efficient or beautiful or
surprising: they are taking the path
because it is the path they take,
and we can't help but
laughalittle at how beautiful that is
not to say that one is better
than another or that anyone
is wrong for going the way
they do or that we think we are
better than going that
particular way to the couch, but
that we know in the end we are
going to go that way too and
that's just fine. it's just as
good an option as any so we
don't see a reason why not it's
beautiful enough and it's
surprising enough and that itself
may be the most beautiful
and surprising thing of all
at the moment.
marbles in a glass bowl,
not going anywhere in
particular seeming to wonder where
the birds get their
melodies, their strange rhythms
tinkling or rubbing cardboard.
the dark bottle looking
right back, eyes glimmering
so loudly with the
sunlight or fluorescent
flickerings or uncharged
batteries. the lithium looking for
water. how's this different?
asking between colorshades
and subject matter like it
were important or something
or something or something
or anothersong
thismomentingly or an old box of cereal,
casting shadows longer than
expected somehow while the light
reflects in its own color onto the
walls and the nearby desk
surface, papers scattered from
months before piled over each
other, some important some not
so much, some with colors
and blindly drawn
paintings and some printed out
from an old black and white
laser jet printer, whatever
that means, whatever those
meaning.
and without even trying
. sometimes things are
not are sometimes it
happens that we go sometimes
sometimes they to from one go the
other without even and
sometimes they to trying. not okay
, and and from even they
are, and from the other are
that sometimes things,
sometimes okay and it the other
without even. and it trying not
are , without even trying.
okay okay and sometimes
without sometimes they are,
without trying, sometimes
sometimes not sometimes
sometimes they they are are are
sometimes even trying . and
sometimes things are, and
sometimes it from the other
sometimes sometimes . and
sometimes they, and sometimes
happens that, and and sometimes
it happens that we go to the
sometimes things happens that
even things are , and they
sometimes the other things are not
okay, not sometimes it
happens we even trying
sometimes not okay are okay go go
from one to the and sometimes
things are, and sometimes that
we from one to the, and
sometimes one. things sometimes
they are go from trying. and
sometimes are not not okay , go even
one the other without
things are not, and they, and
sometimes go from from to okay are ,
we go. and trying okay, are
are that one to the one one
okay, and sometimes it
happens that even and sometimes
it happens from one to the
one sometimes things are
they go from one to . are not
okay, and they sometimes to
from one other and and and
okay, and are , one the other
trying are and it and one to the
other
it's hard to speak
sometimes. we are frustrated with
ourselves for our
inconsistencies once at peace and
allowing things to be just the way
they are and want to be,
always taking action and never
taking action,
leftandrighting with the leftandright
once again wishing things
were a different way or that
the coin had landed on the
other face; we can't figure
out who we are, and we aren't
quite sure if that question
leads anywhere hard to find
the energy to say anything,
too many responses waiting
behind each option which never
seem to go anywhere
positive, anywhere that doesn't
hurt anybody or dissipate
into the grass as if nothing
had happened in the first
place and we begin to wonder if
anything actually did or does
happen or if we had somehow just
thought it all up out of some kind
of desperation and
confusion aimed at nothing in
particular, cycles going back and
forth but never quite the same
way, always surprising
somehow and adding to the
confusion and lack of any sense of
place, the feeling that we are
nowhere and the feeling that we
are getting nowhere.
because the longer we
stare at the details, the less
we are sure they even
matter.