A New Heaven and Undirtied Earth
For James Reis
Forget the “thought” of Plato (Socrates)
That stories, plays, and poetry can cope
With only pasts, and now, and futures. Seize
The truth instead. Create a newer scope
By setting works in time that’s never been,
That isn’t present, and will never be.
Create your verse in periods that are clean,
Not sullied by such days. Beside a sea
Imagined by a mind that does not need
Mere yesterdays, tomorrows, or such facts,
This literature can plant its untried seed
To make a universe with dreamed up acts,
Acts made in unknown moments, in a place
Not found yet, springing in a poet’s space.