“To the Reader”

I’m writing this so I can tell you that what you’re thinking
about me is exactly what I’m thinking
about you.

What you’re reading is exactly what you’re writing,
by the light of a taper, deep inside yourself,
at your walnut secretary.

These words are saying
what those words say, and these and those

are those and these, mine and yours, and have no meaning,
only form. Talk about

being one with others!
We correspond 1 to 1, and there is a grandeur in this.
You’ll understand that someday.

Just now, though, you’re stupefied at this
spooky action at a distance.

So would I be, and I am.

_______________________________________________________

“To the Reader” from That Was Now, This Is Then. Copyright © 2020 by Vijay Seshadri. Used with the permission of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org.