Monica Miller

for Monica Miller

imagine landing
through some accidental decisions
on a ground of blossoms
dispersed upward in peals

or try
pushing yourself forward
finding that doorways
have names and gifts
that unstring
the need for striving

or maybe
there is a sharp
upward note
asymptote of conclusion
that when projected
with a hand to frame
wins everything
before wanting

what i mean to say is
when i wrote this
i was sitting
in the place i sat
at the moment
i decided
to go to the school
where i never knew
i would meet you

so therefore
miracles
are
______
Monica Miller is a professor of English and Africana Studies at Barnard College. Her book on black dandyism is forthcoming from Duke University Press. She makes it look easy to be as miraculous as we are.

This is part of a series of poems and collages. To see the whole set see The Listening Project: A Poetics of Relation.