How should a person be

Stacey McMillan
Contributor
The ghosts of those who brought you
made you
stay.
The ghosts are your house-guests.
Should you be as the ghosts
are? As they were once,
once were…
Should you listen close
for church bells,
for echoes and shadows of sense,
in hopes to at once
discover (can you see notes?)
yours?
Craft a new face
through ways
of standing, leaning, folding,
and holding.
No one can stop cradling.
No one can
forget.
Should you be in physicality
in side be side
with in the toil of the body?
Mine as much as yours
as his. Should you
remember only thoughts?
Should you
watch all the outsides
and be through the distillation
of images
(chosen and lost)
once full?
Empty as you conceive
yourself – bottomless.
Match and ape
the other – be
within them, use their language
to create new
tubors. Is this all
our only option?
Is this all?
I ask you for you –
pretending
I have churned/
solidified theory and ate
at my table
knowing
as a person
should.