This morning it was dark out
and I forgot if it was day or night
I didn’t know whether
to open or close the curtains
put on or take off my clothes
yawn or scream
I had read that some jellyfish
can age backwards
but it wasn’t exactly that
It seemed like time
had turned inside out
and rendered itself weightless
flattened into one thing
Existence
I existed
that was clear to me
My mind was buzzing
I felt a slight stiffness in my neck
and a little thirsty
This evening it’s light out
and I am reading that
your average cloud
floating in the sky
weighs about the same
as a hundred elephants
which makes me think
existence arises out of darkness
as time gains weight
over the day
Jack Cooper is the author of the poetry collection Across My Silence. He has been published in many national journals and nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize. His children’s book of rhymes with artist Greta Gonzalez, Silly Lily’s Rhyming Adventures in Nature, was published in 2023.
