Thrown into Being

The clearing
She thought she heard
The last clearing
It was Heidegger’s not hers
And after his keyre
His turn
So many turned on him
But not for that
For other things like his falling out of Being
With the world
With the world as it ought to be
So she passed through that last clearing
On her way to something nonfictional
Non-mythical
. . . beyond epic legend and folk-tale
Existence comes before essence she thought
Or we have essentialized all mythologies
Deifying the final clearing
Waiting for gods and goddesses who toy with us
Reverses that
Reverses existence and essence
So that there are no white-capped mountains
Or heathered valleys or suns or half moons
In real time
Only in stories and black words on the page
And we seek both she thought
We seek lost words and brave actions
And projects for our lives
In real cities and real towns
Through the clearing beyond the black clouds
—by Douglas Pinson