When I Ask People What I Need to Look For
they tell me what they’ve already looked for
I’m not blaming them
sometimes I think everything is hidden
except what’s apparent
do you think it’s possible?
It’s often better to look for everything you can think of
together with all the things you’ve never even thought of
and the ones you can’t even find by looking
what about looking for something
and finding something else?
When I ask people where to look
they tell me where they’ve already looked
I’m not blaming them
not even pointing fingers
honestly there isn’t any point
of course when you don’t know what you’re looking for
you don’t know what you’re not going to find
Fugitive
When I turn around I don’t see the person who is following me like a runner or runner-up in my dream where the streetlights are on lighting up the pink pavement until it’s smooth and shiny like the tile in my mother’s bathroom I don’t even know if the person is attracted to me or wants to blame me for something I’ve done or something I haven’t even done if it’s her job to follow me I mean it’s not my job to be followed of course it’s often the case that the people most affected by a job are not the ones who are doing the job it’s not even symmetrical of course it’s easier to blame somebody you don’t know in our own lives it’s easier when you don’t even know the person you blame I’m also thinking about the ones who are moving away or sliding away from the ones who are blaming them as if it’s a form of movement everybody is participating in or a slideshow everybody is watching together I actually think we’re pierced in the same places
Peter Leight lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. He has previously published poems in Paris Review, AGNI, Antioch Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, New World, Tupelo Quarterly, Matter, and other magazines.