"Improv Nineteen Ninety Nine"

nineteen ninety nine and
two years come and gone.
i can't remember if it's one a.m. or two a.m.
because shit always happens early in the day.
one bottle of chilled champagne

between the future and the past of us.
one future that starts with a birthday,
and one past that ended with pain,
of love come and gone,
realized and not forgotten.
indefinite or infinity is okay,
at least for today.

two thousand and
lonesome year come and gone.
i can remember that sanctuary across the hearts,
because i am the merry doctor of Descartes.
yet i am leaving the twin sounds

of heartbeats and the sea.
one sound from the marriage of bare fingers,
one sea of raw prickly purple spikes and figurines.
of sobering tales sold and told,
suffered but not forgone.
love is not what I could be wearing,
at least not yet for today.

Jan. 5, 14, 17, 2000, PARC Office

Ed H. Chi (chi [at] acm.org)
Copyright 1996-2009 Ed H. Chi

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.

Photograph and Poem Copyright 2000 Ed H. Chi

Last modified: 1-17-2000