In The Neighborhood

 - Elizabeth Beck
Living With Memories -  elizbeck.blogspot.com

 










Whatever you do, take care of your shoes – Trey Anastasio

It’s not my fault if you can’t keep up.

I want to pierce my body today in hopes to release my kundalini
because existentialism has failed me; instead, I’ve become a nihilist. Forgive me
Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, but it’s all bullshit anyway. The only thing I have found
to be real is this song playing as I run. And I would hate Phish

if I didn’t love them so much. And when I wear this t-shirt to run, all of the gardeners
and suburban dads in the neighborhood stand at attention to tell me they love
Phish, too. And even though everyone references Forrest Gump, the real genius lies
not in a box of chocolate; the brilliance is the idea to have a character run for years,

not just miles. Years. Who wrote that movie anyway? I want to run for years.

And I find myself tucked into George Harrison’s music like parchment folds
into envelopes back when people used to write letters and use carbon paper. And I wonder
about Hindu Swamis at the edge of the Ganges River like I wonder about Rocky Raccoon,
whose name was MacGil, and she called herself Lil but everyone knew her as Nancy.

What the fuck is that? And I’m not quite sure, but what I do know is testimony.
The universe exists and I stand within without question says more about the time I lose
that I can’t remember this poem in the space between the hour I run
and the moment I put words on this paper.

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  Elizabeth Beck - ....is a writer, teacher and artist who lives with her family on a pond in Lexington, Kentucky. She writes a blog called "Living with Memories”. You can find her at: elizbeck.blogspot.com