The Arrivals

When we arrive at the lounge of everything

with our bags

handfuls of earth     the lives of our grandparents

in our memory devices

we expect an exchange of sorts     that is what

we expect

and I think everyone deep down expects

that we will not turn back

Through a high window we will connect stars

like line drawings

translate the sparkles of the poet

we will

sign the fascinating mouth of the speaker

we will sing

lyrics that someone thought were pretty good

we will sing them

and we will not turn back     we will not

When our footsteps awaken fresh

from a long

complicated journey during which the planet

slid otherwise

we will likely remember a dream we had once

and tell

a version of it to the next person and the next

and realize hopefully

they also have a dream to tell and we will not

do that thing

where we won’t listen to anyone else’s dream

we will listen

and interpret     signing     singing     saying

even though

we have been instructed not to use ings

we will use

the wisdom disseminated by our devices

we will not turn back

we will not

If on arrival there is wringing of hands

we will shake hands

and in the eye of a storm we will make tea

with our brilliant

fading bodies we will do a variety of things

while we can

we will bed down on the steps of the assembly

if we have to

we will bed down in a court of law

and all beds

anyway are temporary and when we see

that

and realize we have traveled through the night

we have traveled

and are not turning back     that

will be the point

at which we will arrive