the nostalgia is strong with you

the nostalgia is strong with you




Creating through memory

is like beginning 

to ruffle through a dumpster 

on the cul de sac

of a dead end street,

“How did I get here?”

But it’s at the bottom

that the only place left is up,

sunshine filtered through tree leaves,

the smell of rotting debri,

and your shirt sleeves 

rolled up leaving your hands free:

     

     ah, POETRY.

A family portrait

standing on the edge of it,

getting put in

a basketball game 

just to be taken out,

a shot in the dark,

a stanza isn’t the same

when the part of your life

that you’re supposed to be building 

is an afterthought

while the rest of the world 

is worked up into a frenzy,

“Did you hear 

what the President said today?”

“He just doesn’t give a fuck,”

I respond.

It might benefit me 

to do likewise,

but time 

can feel like a uniform 

to take off 

when we get home saying,

“Honey, that was a long day.”

There’s something about

driving a 28 foot truck

through a different parts of LA

that brings out

a thought of

what you want,

should,

or need to do.

Down Crenshaw and over El Segundo,

life takes place 

in three different tastes:

Past

Present

and Future.

A point-of-view

that simultaneously

looks in the mirror,

into the soul,

and through the front windshield,

a Trinity of thinking

realizing that each story

has to be written daily,

but not knowing the ending

is a cliffhanger

that we can’t stand. 

One foot 

out of the truck,

one hand on the wheel,

while the current me 

is seat buckled to the seat;

1st, 2nd, or 3rd person thinking

in an omniscient world,

all-knowing, 

but still practicing 

the unwritten rules of writing.

Is it Manifest Destiny 

to believe 

that the words will come

or is the lesson learned

when she realizes 

that all

of some 

history 

is supposed to be 

repeated?

Openness has to be

the secret,

but 

if I’m willing to let things out,

then stuff can also come in;

the sin 

is in

trying so hard,

because we 

can’t,

couldn’t,

shouldn’t,

force it.

Dan Parks