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Event Horizons
Prartho Sereno

A man now, my grandson has moved in downstairs
where he wrestles with the angels of amazement
and doubt. Our shadows bow to one another
as he leaves to drive people to the airport or city jobs.
I want to tell him things, but the guardians of predawn
won’t let a whisper pass at this hour and I’m asleep

again before he comes home. I want to tell him
things, but the words have gotten snagged
in the brain’s frayed cogs. The name,
for example, for the lightness
that can blow through a heart and lift it
from the body, sail it around the world.

I want to tell him, too, how the Unexpected
has a thing for us, how she hides among the pots
and pans, in wait for our little lives to whistle by.
And how nobody ever believes they are old.
One day you and your little-old-lady sweetheart
will make jokes about your slipping disguises
over scrambled eggs and toast.

—
Prartho Sereno is the author of four prize-winning poetry collections, including, most recently, Indian Rope Trick (Blue Light Book Award, 2018), and her illustrated Causing a Stir: The Secret Lives & Loves of Kitchen Utensils. Poet Laureate Emerita of Marin County, CA, she taught poem-making to children in grades K through 12 as a California Poet in the Schools for over 21 years, and she currently teaches “The Poetic Pilgrimage: Poem-Making as Spiritual Practice” online.

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