what is it about
yesteryear
that slows us down.
I watch period pieces on television
in the theater
and humanity
sings its aliveness!
in its gentle movement of time spent
peeling potatoes
bathing the dog
sipping tea
you can feel their breaths. in.
out.
I know, I know it’s theater
but I don’t really remember the older generations putting such emphasis on the rush;
their lives did seem a bit more deliberate.
and I know, I know yester-days were also brutal in many ways —
typhoid fever, let’s say —
but in waltzing through the Other-Times I feel a presence unlike the l-o-c-o-motions of today.
we move so
very quickly in the 21st century;
too fast, most times —
hurry get up get in the car get moving pick me up eat change clothes clean up stop looking at your phone
go. to. sleep.
we create anxious energy
that doesn’t want to live inside our bodies
that doesn’t want to love inside our bodies.
so then
wouldn’t it be nice to slow down
for me to slow down
to the speed of a livable presence.
to one where we revel in a black-faced sheep’s curly hair.
where we comfortably rest in the sound of quiet.
where raindrops nourish
and thunderclaps cuddle.
where a tea kettle’s whistle finds us wonder-struck
L.S. 1/18/23
Photo was taken in 2018, inside the stunning Long Room, Trinity College, Dublin.
laurie sliben, writer 