Losing One's Place

It's always the end of the world for someone
every moment
even now as I draw this pen across the page
the last hour has come
for you, too, reading these words
your eyes follow to the end of the line
as you were taught long ago under
your teacher's eye, that circle of children
clutching copies of the same book
taking turns fingers following on the page
as you listen together
shaping the words with your lips knowing
soon it will be yours
waiting for your name
to be called
knowing yes it will come
it will happen
no wonder your mind chose rather
to drift to gaze at the clock at the door
at the window to think
of the garden behind the house
where your grandfather is planting beans
thrusting his thumb in the black soil one
for each seed, each in its own
hole and carefully covered and the afternoons
when you would run in the park
and the summers without end
no wonder you did not hear when she called, lost
she said—and the class fell silent
—your place
in the world from that moment on
and where are you now if not lost
still waiting for the call
while she is long gone and the circle
of children one by one, gone
and grandfather gone
and overhead the wings you saw at the window gone
and the end of the world—oh the end of the world no more
than a song a thing so faint
so far so long ago you have all but
forgotten the sound of its passing






Click here to listen to Jacob Russell reading "Losing One's Place"

Jacob lives and writes in South Philly and engages in an unsanctified alliance of poetry, fiction, and political action. He grows basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, parsley, and tomatoes in the little strip of sunlight that plays across the patch of a yard in front of his apartment. His work has been performed by InterAct Theatre and appeared in or been accepted by Pindeldeyboz, Salmagundi, Laurel Review, Clockwise Cat, dcomP Mag, Bitter Oleander, Philadelphia Stories, Main Street Rag, and other literary venues. He is currently finishing work on a second novel and soliciting a publisher for a poetry chapbook. For additional information, visit jacobrussellsbarkingdog.blogspot.com.