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Albert Einstein

only a few people

really try to understand

relativity like my father

who for decades kept

the same gray book

next to his bed

with diagrams

of arrows connecting

clocks and towers

in the morning

he’d cook eggs

and holding

a small red saucepan

tell us his tired children

a radio on a train

passing at light speed

could theoretically

play tomorrow’s songs

now he is gone

yes it’s confusing

I have placed

my plastic plant

in front of the window

its eternal leaves

sip false peace

my worldly nature

comforts me

I wish we had

a radio sunlight

powers so without

wasting precious

electrons we could listen

to news concerning

Africa’s southern coast

where people with giant

colored sails

are trying to harness

the cool summer wind

with its special name

I always forget

last night I read a book

which said he was born

an old determinist

and clearly it was all

beautiful guesses

and I watched you knowing

where you travel

when you sleep

I will never know

from Sun BearFind it in the library

Copyright © 2014 Matthew Zapruder
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of Copper Canyon Press.

Published in Matthew Zapruder Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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