Regarding the Roundabout at the Chi O Fountain by Jamie Hall

Special thanks to all my friends in ENGL 552/752

REGARDING THE ROUNDABOUT AT THE CHI O FOUNTAIN

I remember the wheels on the left lane car Spinning so fast they turned backward On a childhood highway, My forehead smudging the backseat glass All the way to Arizona or Texas or Colorado.

Velocity makes a fool Of all our beliefs.

I remember this life, A line cut through the circling seasons —have I told you why cars make me shudder? Cold cages of forward momentum, Unbreakable ribs.

Through the window I see another window offset Moving through the drivers like doors —don’t you know a ghost’s just the back end of a blur? I dreamt I couldn’t see the castle through the arches, Torches spilling light on the moon-colored stones. I’ve called this body both a candle and a fountain. The cars never reach the center they lean toward, A bowl of electric blue. We called it Omega. We’re always losing infinite things— This sequence of doors.

Velocity makes a fool of all our beliefs. Everything intense becomes a weapon, this life. Even memory, even time. Do you mind if I say we’re the same? If we move toward the same thing do we blur? What would happen if, as the metal blurred, You stuck your hand through the door And found a soft cheek?