Raffi Wartanian: Between You And Me

Between Time and Space

Between You and Me

            There is something

                        That cannot be explored

                        With words

                        Or silences perceived as meaningful

                        Or eyeballs looking deeply into eyeballs

                        Or hugs

                        Or smirks to diffuse a tension born of

                                    Misunderstandings,

                                                Neglect,

                                                            Fear,

                        Or target variables

                                    Identified

                                                As Determinants of Destiny.

            There is something

                        That transcends Time and Space

                        You and Me

                        Planet Earth

                        Milky Way

                        That-planet-whose-name-I-dare-not-mention.

            There is something

                        That weeps and laughs

                        And holds on with

                        Steel strands of hair

                        Against some odds

                                    Perhaps all.

            There is something

                        That shrinks 4 hours

                                    Into 4 seconds

                        And burgeons the central nervous system

                        To stand up against

                                    Chattering teeth –

                                                Goosebumps –

                                                            Thoughts of warmth –

                                                                        Logs popping.

                        That sets appetite

                        Into a four-bar phrase

                        That crescendos

                        With two dotted repeat symbols

                        That crescendos

                        With two dotted repeat symbols

                        Then, again,

                        Satisfaction just a distant wave

                        Appearing and fading

                        In a horizon

                        Where gushing oil

                        Smears a coarse fluid of non-being

                        Against the purplebluegreenyelloworange sky

                                    Veiled with altocumuli

                                                So fresh it looks like it’s been airbrushed

                                                By some masterful, cosmic artist

                                    Who we must believe

                        Possesses some sort of answer

            Some sort of word

To express

That which is

Between Time and Space

Between You and Me.

By Raffi Wartanian

May 2010, New Jersey Turnpike