Thinking with Reason - John Swofford

poem read by Timothy Arliss OBrien

Thinking With Reason
John Swofford

what can i write that you’d want to hear?

you’re not, as I imagined,

a killer bee—serving your sentence

when a threat is near.

you’re not a kangaroo, jumping a bit

from here to there,

carrying a child in your pouch.

You’re unlike any creature I can

think of—my thoughts roam

over a celebratory coffee

i determine you’re nothing but yourself:

no matter how many faces are born,

no one shall ever be the same

there’s no need for a parallel universe,

i’m code, i think, for something else—

that which can never be repeated

or start from the beginning of time

I won’t expound upon nature,

but I assure you, the love is there.

Nothing motivates me like creating,

and thinking, with reason, that you care

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John Swofford is forty-six and lives in Rex, Georgia.
His poetry has been accepted by Blue Crystal Literary Magazine and Blue Villa Magazine, among others.
 www.johnmerrillswofford.com