The History of Understanding

“I guess we’ll reach some understanding
When we see what the future will bring.”

–Jackson Browne

70 years into the tunnel

of eternity

and I understand nothing.

Who promised

me future peace, of

country or mind?

No Man.

And if I wander a little too

far from home

who will take care of the

dog and the light bill?

These are worries.

Years ago I watched my

father slip away

and I thought, there goes

a good man who

understood. I see now that

this was my myth.

I still love hard. Maybe that

helps. Maybe that explains

something. I raise

my hand. I speak the names

of friends. I even, on

good days, write like

I’m on fire, like I understand.

About the Author

Corey Mesler has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including Poetry, Gargoyle, Five Points, Lunch Ticket, Good Poems American Places, and New Stories from the South. He has published over 50 books of fiction and poetry.

His newest book, The World is Neither Stacked for Nor Against You: Selected Short Stories, is from Livingston Press. With his wife he runs Burke’s Book Store (est. 1875) in Memphis.


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