MARK JARMAN
Mark Jarman is the author of numerous collections of poetry and other books including Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems (Sarabande Books). He is Centennial Professor of English at Vanderbilt University and an Elector of the Poets' Corner at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
So There
And now, for there is
Always now ahead,
The now that follows
Now and breeds a now
Delivered to old age
And born again
In every single
Moment from now on,
Till now, for now a burr
Has caught a slip
Of time and stripped
A ladder down its length—
We see the running
Scare speed through it now,
And either we cannot
Keep up or should not
Say to the old lady
Walking next to us,
Dressed up for church
And smiling at the sun,
"Your stocking has a run, Mom.
Did you know that?"
Only to hear her
Answer that she knows
More about time's indifference
Than we've learned yet.
