Francis and Me
(not unlike/not really like Ben and Me, book by Robert Lawson, film by Disney)

I’m too tired

Got up because
I was up

Got coffee for the ritual
And pleasure
From
The ritual

I’m writing
Though it’s gunk-like
Like old oil
That hasn’t yet been cleaned away
Nearly
Enough
From the machine

Replace the batteries
As well
Or something like
For charge

Get into it
But it’s a push
Against the hours I have lost
Again

Against pre-morning
Early-light
Fractal illumination

I ask
Of myself
As audience
While illumination
Of all kinds
Tries
To creep in
Over the factual sill
And the one
To
The mind
Over the parts
That sense

And I happen
Out of nerd-like interest (maybe)
Or a patriot’s dream
To think
About
Pre-dawn
Near a fort
On a ship
Neither so far away

(to ask)
How soon did he

How soon
Did Francis spy
The flag
Then write while on the ship
After uncertainty except
The fact of
(not a doorframe but)
A battle
Overnight

C L Couch
(starting at 4:30)


“The Fact of a Doorframe” is a poem by Adrienne Rich (title of book, too, “Selected Poems”)

Photo by Jamie Morrison on Unsplash