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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.