The Child

The child upon learning that there was a way of walking and a month that shared the same name

Wondered if there might be a way of walking that corresponded to September

And more generally, if all months and ways of walking referred to a reality as yet unseen

The father could barely see his child because he was lost in work, he was defending

Those accused of crimes many of whom had committed crimes. His head hurt.

He grabbed a handfull of green-and-yellow pills. September oranged apace.

September oranged anon. The teacher, Mr. Fuentes, referred to the god Mars

We walk a certain way when we are going off to war. The Romans named a month

For war, when the fields were fallow. His father had fled the war and come to New York City

Pale Fuentes knew he told a lie. There was no Mars. There was no way to stop marching.

But he was wrong and there was. Oh God, there was and is.

Decembering the child took an airplane to a new land of silver foil

And why do we call it foil? Because it reminds us

First Outside Inside Left.

The first one, to travel from outside to inside is left. But we are right

To yearn for another day.

–Cam-Joseph Brinewood, 1922