Poem by R.M. Dolin, 8/9/2025
Where Dust Decides To Settle
I can’t defend why you matter
any better than dust decides
where to settle. It’s a strange comparison
for sure, yet,
I stare at my table that never gets set
wondering why dust decides
to protect the world of never-more
from the clumsy calamities of a clown
painfully tracing patterns
in pensive hope of reprieve.
I ride the rails that once
brought me home to you,
one transfer short of the other side of
improbably possible.
Watching for whispers of your soul
wave as I whirl by like wind
weaving through a high mountain meadow,
speaking in soothing tones
as cold steel wheels beneath me
syncopate with gypsy music
to stealthy steal what little remains.
I no longer pretend I might learn French
but hold hard to the belief I can
just to savor once more
the sweet sound
of your melodic voice
sardonically saying I’m silly
to contrast the desperate way we cling to
the surfaces of our lives
as dust decides where to settle.
From the R.M. Dolin novel, “An Unsustainable Life – Book of Issac.” Issac continues finding random poems such as this scattered throughout Darwin’s journals, they’re like treasure maps to his uncle’s life, only with each obscure clue a poem reveals, the mystery of what they mean deepens.
Written while planning a trip to Bastia, Corsica and what it will be like riding the Paris Metro from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Orly Airport to make my connecting flight, passing Versailles along the way, with all that means.
Comments are closed