3:15 Experiment Poem 8/18/06: words for the dodo

something about writing the date at 3:15am
makes you feel how fast the days go by
it’s not the same as writing the date
on a check–too many distractions

perhaps it is the malodorous whiff
of the passage of time itself
experienced by marking time
night after night in the
quiet breath of 3:15am

on the one hand opportunity 
for grace for words not your own
to spill forth & trouble the page 
on the other the terrible temptation
to turn off the alarm & turn over
each night an opportunity gained & lost
each night an opportunity briefly weighed 
as light goes on
as pen touches down
as date is recorded
as seconds tick by
as cool night air flows in &
transforms into breath & words
that may or may not
make it to the page
be birthed into the world
be remembered be shared
be driven into day
they belong only to that silent moment
eyes close head body hand pauses
poem takes flight

words do not always belong
to the Wright Brothers
but instead to the dodo
beautiful
important
extinct

 

This poem was written at 315am August 18, 2006 as part of the 3:15 Experiment started at Naropa in 1993 by Danika Dinsmore & Bernadette Mayer.

Join the 315 Experiment August 2008 here. 

Don’t join the dodo!

PS I hope to get a you tube up on this one soon!