If you drive past
horses and don’t say horses
you’re a psychopath. If you see an airplane
but don’t point it out. A rainbow, a cardinal, a butterfly.
If you don’t whisper-shout albino squirrel! Deer! Red fox!
If you hear a woodpecker and don’t shush everyone around you
into silence. If you find an unbroken sand dollar in a tide pool.
If you see a dorsal fin breaking the water. If you see the
moon and don’t say oh my god look at the moon.
If you smell smoke and don’t search for
fire. If you feel yourself receding,
receding, and don’t tell
anyone until you’re
gone.
