Jim Kacian

Pull of the Tide

If all the universe’s molecules, its dark and bright energies, conspired to arrange themselves in exactly the same order a second time, then they would be compelled to do so again and again, and so all things would be predetermined once and always. But I’m almost gone and I ain’t coming back, so that’s obviously not going to happen. Which makes it difficult to predict the future. But I’ve taken on an equally challenging task. I invent myself a little more each day, gathering this irreproducible amalgamation of stuff into some semblance of order, as if there were such a thing. Hitchhiking 4,0000 miles at the random mercy of others? Best thing for a poet’s budding soul. Couldn’t abide my mother? How useful! Late to recognize a lover who didn’t really love me? Late recognizing one that really did? Well, well. I have always been willing to do the work. I may not know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I have gotten so much better, now as the universe narrows, at predicting the past.

wrack line
an old something
new each morning

---

About the Author

Jim Kacian is founder and president of The Haiku Foundation as well as chairman of its board; founder and owner of Red Moon Press; and editor in chief of Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W. W. Norton, 2013).

---