The Present

T     I     C     K            T     O     C     K,          T     I     C     K          T     O     C     K

We really don’t need a clock

to tell us that even now

WE  ARE

a      

W        A        S

Second by Second

It shouts out us.        .     .

M  O  C  K  S      U  S

and then Billy Collins,

Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003

not-so-gently-reminds-us-of

T  H  E     P  R  E  S  E  N  T

Much  has  been  said  about  being  in  the  present.
It’s  the  place  to  be,  according  to  the  gurus,
like  the  latest  club  on  the  downtown  scene,
but  no  one,  it  seems,  is  able  to  give  you  directions.

It  doesn’t  seem  desirable  or  even  possible
to  wake  up  every  morning  and  begin
leaping  from  one  second  into  the  next
until  you  fall  exhausted  back  into  bed.

Plush,  there’d  be  no  past
with  so  many  scenes  to  savor  and  regret,
and  no  future, the  place  you  will  die
but  not  before  flying  around  with  a  jet-pack.

The  trouble  with  the  present  is
that  it’s  always  in  a  state  of  vanishing.
Take  the  second  it  takes  to  end
this  sentence  with  a  period–already  gone.

What  about  the  moment  that  exists
between  banging  your  thumb 
with  a  hammer  and  realizing
you  are  in  a  whole  lot  of  pain?

What  about  the  one  that  occurs
after  you  hear  the  punch  line
but  before  you  get  the  joke?
Is  the  where  the  wise  men  want  us  to  live

in  that  intervening  tick, the  time  slot
that  occurs  after  you  have  spent  hours
searching  downtown  for  that  new  club
and  just  before  you  die  up  and  head  back  home?
(THE RAIN IN PORTUGAL, Random House, 2016) 

.       .        .but it’s true, isn’t it.         .       .

It’s hard

almost impossible to

BE  PRESENT

the new buzz word:

M     I     N     D     F     U     L

to even define it

while you’re literally catching a cold from the flipping pages

of the fast moving calendar

.       .      .makes you wonder not only about

T       I       M       E

but actually what time is it:

This

N     E     W

N            O            W

THE AGE OF COVID-19

THIS     P R E S E N T

.       .       .maybe that it’s simply

present

time
to know:

I don’t have to love forever

I don’t have to be kind forever

I don’t have to be compassionate forever

I don’t have to be caring forever

I don’t have to be forgiving forever

I don’t have to be accepting forever.        .       .

J            U            S            T

l o v i n g

k i n d

c o m p a s s i o n a t e

c a r i n g

f o r g i v i n g

a c c e p t i n g

N                O                W

or as Mr Poet Laureate, Billy might suggest:

P       R       E       S       E       N       T       L       Y

Is   it   enough.          .          .

for once not as a whole.          .            .

just grain by grain

which beats any

s  e  c  o  n  d

on any clock or watch.          .           .

anyone can love for

THAT  LONG

for   just   one   good

p  r  e  s  e  n  t

M      O      M      E      N      T