Five Moments of Half-Truth
1
Some lawns on this dying planet
are green; some are desert.
We joke about increasing pinches
of crimson-colored dust
in the soft summer air.
2
Do not look to the skies
for swelling signs
of a swiftly approaching angry red planet.
We live on a ball of slowly matching color.
In the Great Sumerian Lexicon
“Earth” is now a synonym for “Mars.”
3
"Black Lives Matter.”
No offense, but it sounds funny
to the ears of a blind monk
taught that both black and white
connote an absence of color.
4
"It does haven’t to be this way,”
Roshi says after two hours of sitting.
Why is he weeping?
“Today I had to choose between
staying behind to pray for mankind
or staying put in paradise
and wait for you to arrive.”
5
“What’s heaven like?” I ask Roshi.
“Why do you ask?” he responds.
“I could have sworn
your were seated beside me.”
— David Federman, 6/19/20