Poem for a Cloud Above a Statue

Out of what used to be called the aether

very powerful beings

ancient people believed

they knew the names of

breathed instead of air

but now we just call the sky

you came

not really looking like anything

or maybe a little bit like if you could talk

you would choose silence as a subject

and I felt completely sure

you would never ask me

to think about the past

except maybe those days I will confess

even though it is silly I still think of as holy

a few of us used to meet at the Gate

for what we called a drink

but as you know truly were many

living on Eastern Parkway

against not being made

to do anything I leaned

and leaning was my secret tombstone

with soft grass all around it

I fell asleep many times in the sun

through the window and thought

I will never wake up

but I didn’t die I moved to California

where I see you cloud

and want to tell you this is the last time

I will ever arrive in a new place a stranger

expecting to be welcomed

then tenderly ignored

and now you are suddenly a giant tree!

solemnly laughing beside a terrifying river

no one has ever stepped into

MATTHEW ZAPRUDER