For Nicholas Biddle with all the flourishes
Listen now
I think I burnt out on E-470
going 105 and 110 and never catching
the taillights in front of me
The door opens
the inhale-exhale of wind
through the window and the shades
I can smell the lilacs from outside
that aren’t swaying anymore
never blooming
anymore
Listen now
I got a sunglass tan from studying history
looking up at the sun, bright
and the white through my be-speckled be-polarized shades
thinking
Nicholas Biddle, where are you?
Scrolling through the page of scrawled out
numbers and dates and parentheses
each one noted a little bit differently
a little bit less informal
Listen now
for in the darkness
tireless and sped-up night
Nicholas Biddle and I are wandering
to the empty halls and empty doors and empty mirrors
and thinking bricks and roses, bricks and roses
and he said a line, but I forgot it now
consciousness but not spelled the same
Revision
Listen now
I think the silence isn’t ending.
I think I burnt out on E-470
going 105 and 110 and never catching
the taillights in front of me
The door opens
the inhale-exhale of wind
through the window and the shades
I can smell the lilacs from outside
that aren’t swaying anymore
never blooming
anymore
Listen now
I got a sunglass tan from studying history
looking up at the sun, bright
and the white through my be-speckled be-polarized shades
thinking
Nicholas Biddle, where are you?
Scrolling through the page of scrawled out
numbers and dates and parentheses
each one noted a little bit differently
a little bit less informal
Listen now
for in the darkness
tireless and sped-up night
Nicholas Biddle and I are wandering
to the empty halls and empty doors and empty mirrors
and thinking bricks and roses, bricks and roses
and he said a line, but I forgot it now
consciousness but not spelled the same
Revision
Listen now
I think the silence isn’t ending.
posted by read | 5:53 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for teaching me some history--had to look up this Biddle character--interesting. I like the playfulness here, but especially the sense of search, the "bricks and roses, bricks and roses".
I love this, Reed. I had a dream about Nicholas Biddle once...we were playing cards. I'm sure Mrs. Gerlich would be glad to know what an impact US History is having on our subconsciouses. Good poem.
Thanks Sarah. Yeah, I think Gerlich has screwed some of us AP kids up in some way. I once dreamed that I was in a duel with Andrew Jackson and Aaron Burr.
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