poem

 Insofar

We only exist insofar as we 

Are observed

The idea of the hermit is to put

This hypothesis to the test

Every day, he wakes and finds himself

Still there. Even though hasn’t seen a soul

In years. But at the end of all his

Meditations, his prayers, and holy fasting,

He remains. Hungry and sad and wondering. 

It’s a glitch in the experiment,

A confounding factor that can’t be

Entirely eliminated. 

Even invisibility engenders a certain feeling 

The way solitude bleeds into loneliness.

The problem requires a distraction, usually 

In the form of another person. 

It’s your only hope.

Yes, if you pick the wrong person

It’s worse than being stranded 

On the moon

But don't let that stop you.

Doesn’t even have to be the right person

Whatever that may mean.

We’re talking mere seconds

Here, a flash of recognition,

A shared belly laugh.

Do that a few times per day or week

Or whatever you need

And you start to forget 

What it was like before

We were two. 

To be alone and self-forgetting 

Is an existential impossibility

Only God can pull off.

The narcissist fears his own

Annihilation so much he can't 

Take his eyes off himself.

When he tires he gathers

Everyone around and forces

Them to watch until he wakes up.

The nihilist positions himself between 

Two facing mirrors.

He stands in the middle 

And watches himself get smaller

And smaller until the last 

Of the light

10/19/25