How To Begin

Constellate at just the right moment,

collision and attraction co-ordinating

to bring nothing into something.

Bed down well, make yourself comfortable,

you’ll be here for a while,

 so choose a good spot

and make your preferences known.

Plot the co-ordinates and map yourself gradually,

contour, river, landmass.

There’s no particular hurry,

though people do prefer it

if you stay on schedule.

Be good at long division.

Creep into people’s dreams,

whisper your names in storm clouds

and summer breezes,

flirt with moon shadows and twilight.

Make your presence known

as soon as you can,

bubbles, ticks, pressure, moving,

all these are reassuring.

If others want to check you out,

try to be obvious, subtlety can come later,

band a drum, crash saucepan lids,

shout from the rooftops.

Swim and have secret knowledge of the sea,

mermaids, fish people, eels, water mysteries.

Yoga is your thing, specialise in the headstand,

hands free of course, elsewhere,

you might spend years

trying to relearn this pose.

Get the choreography right,

remember the steps, you do know the way.

Don’t be afraid of light and sound,

hormones are clever things, and,

given the chance, they will help you.

Gradually learn where you have come from

and where you have come to.

Wake, feed, sleep, repeat. 

 

 

--Alison Jones