*Poem: The Universe Moves*

Not worth waking him, I
come back from the bathroom at 2:30 a.m.
full of helpless anxiety, a dream
where, watching the moon pass behind
a cloud in the night sky,
another moon comes into view,
racing more quickly, in another direction.
Soon, the sky full of the other planets
all rolling where they will,
I know it's bad, but there's
been no effect yet on weather, gravity.
I know things have changed for good,
and if it wasn't for the natural disaster
about to befall us, I dream I am
a little curious about how the people will react.
I decide myself, in the dream,
that circumstances are such that
really, this time, nothing can be done.
Across the sky then are lawn gnomes,
teddy bears, but not the actual figures,
outlines, like you'd see at the planetarium
when the man with the laser pointer
is showing you where to find Orion, Ursa Minor.
I decide to do something wonderful
in the time I have left. I wake up
before I find out how the rest of the Earth
takes it. I wake up before I see
how it all turns out. I'm not a big sci-fi fan,
don't look for Orson Welles to tell me, finally,
arm twisted behind his back, that this was
all a dream. I know that, but the tension
remains, a sort of 9/11 feeling
where so much, happiness, assistance,
is out of my power, and sleep
may come back, hangover from
weekend of friends, travel, camping
have been cured by an afternoon nap,
but sleep now, after a vision of
the universe sliding away before my eyes,
ending before the fires, the earthquake,
the terrible riots, is hard to shake.
I am waiting for the last movement
to see what the consequences of
the universe moving might be.
I am waiting, wide awake, to discover,
whether or not I have to go in to work.

CAR 9/6/10