Space and Time by Puma Perl

It’s not the end

of the decade

Just another year,

steamrolling

the ones

that came before

 

Nothing is ending,

nothing is beginning

 

You’re never going to see

the ocean like you did

the first time,

dragging your towel

behind you,

waves reaching

the sky

standing in the endless

sandbox

Coney Island

all around you

 

No first time

for the Beatles

or the Ramones

 

No first time

for love

 

In our space

and time

some moments

march on,

steadfastly refusing

to line up

with the rest,

breaking through

the tedium

of experience

 

For a minute,

we stand

on the beach

in the wonder

of everything

that was always

ours.

Photo credit goes to Dina Regine.

Puma Perl is a widely published poet and writer, as well as a performer and producer. She is the author of two chapbooks, Ruby True and Belinda and Her Friends, and three full-length poetry collections, knuckle tattoos, Retrograde (great weather for MEDIA), and Birthdays Before and After (Beyond Baroque.) She is the creator, curator, and producer of Puma’s Pandemonium, which launched at the Bowery Electric in 2012 and brings spoken word together with rock and roll. As Puma Perl and Friends, she performs regularly with a group of excellent musicians. She’s received two honorable mentions and one first place award from the New York Press Association in recognition of her journalism and was the recipient of the 2016 Acker Award in the category of writing; she lives and works on the Lower East Side.