PROJECTION
What I took to be a man
cradling a woman in his arms and kissing her
turned out to be the gardener carrying
a pile of leaves he had gathered
What I took to be a billboard that said Gold Cock Motel
turned out to be a billboard that said Gold Crest Motel
What I took to be a sentence that said, I have an officer in my garage
turned out to be a sentence that said, I have an office in my garage
What I took to be a screen at the ATM machine
that said your transformation is being processed
turned out to be a screen that said
your transaction is being processed
What I took to be a friend anxious to see me
turned out to be an intruder kicking in the door
What I took to be a Buddha sitting under the tree
turned out to be an old lady reading
What I took to be an old lady reading
turned out to be me
—from Rattle #78, Winter 2022
Rattle Poetry Prize Finalist
__________
Candace Moore: “Despite my father coaching me that ‘there is no money in poetry,’ I’ve been reading and writing poetry ever since I was a teenager and I discovered Edna St. Vincent Millay, whose entire book of collected poems I wrote out in long hand. If I was asked what three poets I would invite to a dinner party it would be Rumi, Leonard Cohen, and Emily Dickinson. I agree with Emily: ‘A word is dead when it is said, some say, I say it just begins to live that day.’”
