“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.”
-Emily DickensonI took the world into me, rearranged it, and sent it back out as a question, “Do you like me?”
-Oskar Schell, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Wearing White
Emily and Oskar
only felt comfortable
When they wore white.
People thought them rather
odd.
She would lower
Baskets of blessings and grace
By knotted cord and
hands stained with ink,
Cord hand-sewn,
Like the faith of Rahab,
To loved ones
In gardens of her own making.
He would raise
“What would you like to drink?”
“Coffee.”
“Coffee?”
“It stunts my growth and I’m afraid of death.”
Hopes and dreams and questions
By knotted heart,
Hands wrung with fear,
boots heavy with living,
Like the wisdom of Solomon,
To loved ones
In the city others sought to destroy.
Perhaps,
they were real,
or perhaps imagined,
Perhaps both-
True-
Angels,
Unawares.