What We Want

Photo by Kathy Kieth, Pollock Pines

A MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE
—Norman Fischer

What we want is a model of the universe
That includes everything leaving nothing out
Yet is completely different fresh unique holding nothing in

common

With any of its constituent elements
Yet is not strange exotic and does not make us feel

uncomfortable

What we want is a model of the universe we can
Read about in a magazine article with pictures
Yet it can’t be just another magazine article and it can’t
Be in a regular magazine this magazine will glow as it

shimmers before our eyes

What we want is a model of the universe that will answer all

our questions

To which we can refer for all sorts of advice
To foretell the future cure bursitis get rich quick aphrodisiac

etc.

And will be absolutely foolproof one hundred percent of the

time

What we want is a model of the universe
That we can talk to coyly we can droop our eyelids at
Plump our lower lips begin the sniffle
And it will pat our shoulders say “there there dear” grow

sad and droopy itself

But without ever really losing its composure or assurance
What we want is a model of the universe so complex we can

never understand it

So simple we can grasp it in a glance and explain it to our

friends via a few simple sentences

What we want is a model of the universe
Which once in our possession becomes identified so

strikingly with us

That we become internationally famous our names
Household words the meaning of our doing and saying
An eternally living legacy around which all subsequent

culture is organized

What we want is a model of the universe we can count on

time after time

Yet is never tiring never predictable eternally new
What we want is a model of the universe that is better than

someone else’s model of the universe

That makes their model of the universe look really pale by

comparison although

Only we realize this and our intimate friends
But our model of the universe is also better than the
Model of the universe of even our intimate friends
Although the fact of the matter is that no one but us really
Possesses a model of the universe it is our own little secret
However we write poems about it that strike others as
Infinitely suggestive and profound but since this makes us

feel lonely

We want a model of the universe that everyone understands
We want a model of the universe that explains everything
Yet doesn’t take the mystery out of anything in fact adds

mystery

Even to the simplest of daily actions a model of the universe

that

Keeps us fit and eating delicate and healthy foods
A model of the universe in which we appear never

overweight nor old

Yet we don’t want to actually appear in this model of the

universe

We want to be beyond it holding it in our hand looking at it

from a distance

Yet we don’t want to feel alien from it either we want love
We want a model of the universe in which we can always

stay home

Yet be able to travel whenever we want to remote places
Where all foreign languages are actually English
Though they never lose their ethnic charm
What we want is a model of the universe
Contiguous with the total shape of time
So that it neither begins nor ends is neither something nor

nothing

What we want is a model of the universe in which
This poem therefore never ends and in which it never began

____________________

—Medusa