Jared Smith Poet

Jared Smith

A Silver Zipper

Merely meteoritic, this darkness
that started traveling before Earth formed
carrying no whiff of intelligence, nor sense of being,
nor breath of life, but having something that would
light up the darkness across a universe
when it entered our atmosphere.

Whatever is hidden burns brightest
when the time of counting shadows ends.
Your pocket-change melts back into your hands.
Your estate dances on the head of a pin.
Most of life is waiting for what comes in.
Most of what comes in was here before.

Beyond the buildings are estuarine islands
where a tall bird waits expectantly.

--Jared Smith, Copyright © 2006