Taliesin Says “Up”
(10 and 1/2 months)
Starting with the open sound
for awe, saying
“Ahhhh”--unbroken syllable/sermon mystics tell us is
the intonation of the unnamable--he closes it with
the sound a baby makes as a joke when he’s had
enough, “ppppppp!”--and all at once he’s got it.
“Ah-puh. Ah-p. Ahp. Up. Up!
UP!” and after that there’s no stopping him
stopping us: at all hours of the day,
that wrap around one leg, his legs climbing our hips, at last
bumping heads together, “Up! Up! Up!”
like a drill sergeant. Up means must,
up means flying through the air, up means hug,
up means love. Up means being handed
from father to mother, to father, to mother, to father, to mother,
a dozen times and the game just keeps getting better
until it’s too much to stand. Up means down,
then up again. Riding in his backpack,
standing on our laps, crawling over us in bed--
“You’re already up!”
he keeps repeating it. Even when he’s asleep
between us comes that sweet small questioning voice
that if God can condemn to Hell then He can suffer in Heaven
saying “Ah-p? Ah-p?”--his magic spell while dreaming.
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