subtext

it’s 11:18 and the astronaut is talking

I wonder if my students will have time

to write their essay when we get back

as if it matters more than just something

to do as the astronaut says “you better

have a plan for stopping” in some context

I missed because I am writing this poem

even though I still look up fairly frequently

with an interested expression like now

so that it will appear I’m taking notes

or reflecting on the astronaut’s speech

instead of writing as if I’m Frank O’Hara

at lunch in New York casually tossing off

 one of those now fifty year old classic poems

I’ve been carrying around in my pocket lately

and suddenly I think about Rene Char

and his Leaves of Hypnos and what difference

if any exists between writing processes

of O’Hara’s wondrous wanderings in New York

my surreptitious scribbles my students’ groans

if we get back in time to write and Char stalked

by the Nazis across the French countryside

as the astronaut speaks of re-entering

the atmosphere and how the heat shield

is on fire “It burns up so the rest of you doesn’t”

and how last night I misplaced my notebook

I carry everywhere for just a few minutes

and I could feel the flames begin to flare