Eckhart Tolle told me
through his prose
that now is the time
I need to be in.

The golden time
is now, the future is now.
There is no future.
The future made plans.

There are appointments,
but what will be future is now.
Every minute into the now,
we are here and now.

There is something liberating
knowing the breath
I just breathed
is future past tense.

There is something liberating
to know every thought I've had,
millions of thoughts,
are past tense.

Yes, Bessel, everything
experienced is past.
The body keeps the score.
Can we reset the scoreboard?

Can you say that
they have won this so far,
they have taken so much
from my body,

that the breath I breathe,
I've breathed before?
Is it possible
to reset the score?

They called me Winna.
Does that mean
I am winning
the war?

I imagine the scorecard
is high. I can feel it
in my vertebrae.
I can feel it

when I stretch and my
bones creak. I can feel
the water, salt, and red
and white capillaries

making me an American.
Yes, ghosts are in me,
but what is
my score?

Is there a way to breathe
into the demons, let them know
they can stay for coffee,
live with me, but not be me?

Is there a way to breathe
in each unwanted memory,
and dissolve it like
acid in an ink tray?

If the body does
keep the score,
who lets you know
who is winning?

 

Jason Wright is the editor and founder of Oddball Magazine. His column appears weekly. His third book, Train of Thought 2: Almost Home is available now at the Oddball Book Store.