Journey to Ixtlan

The poem “Read the Braille” is about the frustration of truly understanding the world. It is difficult enough to understand ourselves. This frustration is only trumped by attempting to know others.


Read the Braille

Read the braille with fingertips
raised bumps above the grade
indications of other things
out of my sight yet still I feel.

blind of sight and forced to fumble
as situations proceed as normal
I wonder if I'm fully lost
when nothing seems as it was

Where is the world I used to know
the furniture has been replaced
moved here and there across the world
no longer where I would expect

Whispers heard from far away
indistinct as I strain
to separate truth from lie
each seems the same as I sigh

beauty lays inside my mind
ugliness also in kind
these only references I possess
when outside works area indistinct

I wish I had the sight to see
something more than tragedy
phantoms only in my grief
now be gone so I may see

yet still my fingertips trace along
the bumps alone I contemplate
along with voices to combine
the haze of world that is mine.

2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161026.