Brace yourself for my first poem of 2008, and potentially my strangest yet.

I must say that inspiration for this poem came from a 1997 Jeff Mangum (from Neutral Milk Hotel) interview: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/48552-interview-neutral-milk-hotel

“The Aymara Arrow of Time, and How I Left the Future Behind”

Some seek out something to wake up for;
I seek out a reason to stay in bed,
a purpose to stay inside:
to slide under the sheets at 3am,
and never wake up again.
I want to fall asleep on the couch in my jeans,
and wake up in a denim version of South America;
Machine wash cold.

I want an explanation,
as to why my mind moves two seconds an hour,
yet still rattles my window
and throws amorphous balls of light around the room like
we’re playing a metaphysical game of catch.

They cannot shake me from my slumber.
Not even the thunder or the flux in time;
and it’s 2079,
in the last small Texas town.
Don’t think I’m not aware that
my grandson can overhear me
through the thin titanium walls
talking to old digital photographs
of the only woman I truly loved,
and married in 2014.

I want him to know,
she passed away two years ago
in a Dallas hospital,
talking to the nurses’ holograms;
telling them she was the last living descendant
of an old world ruler of the planets.
She’d hex them all
if they didn’t let her go.

And I want my grandson to know,
I have never let her go.