II.
“I’ve been keeping”
I’ve been keeping
my feet
at the place beyond which
I dare not venture
if there’s even the chance
I might want to come back.
I came to the city at twenty-one.
I thought I could have no end.
Imagine the noise of a mind
stretched through time—
Time passed—
all I had to do was outlast
rage, pain, fear
a new life to find here.
Sexton: one who elects
to care for sacred objects.
Did I not know that I must be inside
my father’s house?
And, see, my soul is loose.
How much it abruptly shifts.
How little it changes.
I’ve decided to sing
these things
in spite of my crisis
of silence
and although I know
I lack tone.
Sing, Memory, precious as the rare
stone unearthed from beneath
forgotten years.
Sing only the right words.
Sing on the page, spare, controlled.
Sing my prayer, unrelenting, unheard.
…
Andrew Tye is from a town named Temple. He believes all humans are poets. He performs his forthcoming book My Son as a one-man show in NYC. He aims to share the book and the show with national audiences.