In order to be here
At all
You must enter
The poem you did not write
You must
Once only
Contract and compress and squeeze
The still expanding universe
Inside a single skin
Become a new word
Eggspermepidermis
Another way of saying everything
Again
In order to be here
At all
You must enter
The poem you did not write
You must grow inside the womb
That waited for you
Before it even knew you
And in order to arrive again
You must leave your home again
And everything you ever knew
Again
And push the body that you grew
Again
Through the darkness that ends in light
Again
Until your lungs fill with cold air that might
Not be fresh but that will have to do
Again
In order to be here
At all
You must enter
The poem you did not write
World of gravity and light
And you will fall and fall and fall until you die
And dying will flow you float and fly
Into the sun
Sum total state illumination
Shed skin material de-composition
Born once more into the poem you did not write
Full of fearbeautywormblindbirdflight
Ensouling soil and air putrid words decay and rot and shining
Sprout new rhymes tender tendrils find-ing
Another other ways to say say everything
Again
It has all happened so many times before (and after)
But never looked quite like this
And never will
Again
[Cue nervous laughter]
Yes To All Of It 