Lethe

How to make a prayer
with two matches, dryer lint
and half a can of kerosene.
How to go your own side way
through the middle of a one way street
while lost on a winding back road.
How to form words sounding
like high tension wires sizzling
magnetic electrical love.
Sadly, all I could see
was a bag caught in a tree
longing to be free.

Don’t ask me for the keys
to the gate at the Garden of Eden.
They flew out the car window
along the Lincoln way,
careened off a Fed Ex truck
and landed by a retread tire
all mangled and torn in a copse of weeds
one mile north of Walnut Bottom.

Holy thou
Elysian fields of dried brown grass.
Holy thou
ice cube melting on the sidewalk
of oblivion.
Holy thou
cigarette butts and mangled bird feathers
of McConnelsburg.
Holy thou
foundations of old nothings
on Main Street, Chambersburg.

What is the speed of darkness?
What is the elevation of enlightenment
and will there be enough oxygen?
What is the voice of the shepherd
I shall not want?
What are
the sleepers remained in their cave?
What are the healing principals
of letting go to letting go?

I saw an inter-modal train
pass over the 2nd Street bridge
that had your name
spray painted on a box car
whoever you are – your fooling no-one.
I can see a few thousand years
tattooed on your soul.
Misfits in the age of reason
have no reason to be born again.
The speed of darkness
is also the speed of light.

Carl Kaucher is the author of three chapbooks, “Sideways Blues ( Irish mountain and beyond )”, “Postpoemed” and most recently “Peripheral Debris” all published by Alien Buddha press. His work has appeared in numerous print publications and on line. The writing explores his experiences wandering urban spaces near his home and throughout Pennsylvania. Using his photography and writing, Carl has been exploring the overlooked places and documenting the chance occurrences that happen to him and by doing so gives us the opportunity to reflect upon those similar events happening in our lives also. https://www.facebook.com/CarlKaucher/   and on instagram @Carlkauche