Popcorn

You may not understand

What it is

To look your future in the eye

And have it blink

To not know

If your rights

Will be your rights

You can't skip over the third stair

if you're sneaking into the kitchen

because all the stairs creak,

just in different ways.

They don't talk about the light

in the closet

If I were dreaming,

would the cold and snow still bite my face

in the winter

when I went skiing?

If I were dreaming,

would the heat of June-July-August-now-October-too(?)

To tell you

what fall is

if you didn't know

would be the task of a poet,

and even my best words

wouldn't tell you,

really.

I could tell you what it's like

to look up at the hills