— after Frank Ocean, “Nikes”
You would have laughed
at the sight of us: bodies twisted,
one foot in the air to show off
a new pair of Nikes; iPhones ringing
with warning about deep time,
deep funk. What a defunct
time it was to be alive. I promise
we loved the earth. So much
so that we took chances with our life
just to see it. We flew one person to a seat
at the highest of altitudes. We slid under glass
plates of sky. Over geysers, canyons
buried succinctly between sandstones.
& though we didn’t effectively save it
—I promise we loved the earth.
I mean, we lived collectively anxious
about the future of it. From so high up,
pronghorns dotted grasslands
like tufts of clouds kicking up dirt.
I promise we thought of you.
I promise we were human.
Some of us put forth our best
efforts but yet. We wanted
not only to visit the moon,
but to inhabit it. We wanted
& wanted & wanted more
until there was nothing left
to want. If you could have seen it
— the grizzly bear drinking
from the watering hole,
you would have loved it.
I promise we thought of you.
I promise we didn’t mean to hand you
an equation of loneliness
none of us knew how to solve,
a pair of Nikes covered in scat
with nothing to clean them with.
