Sandra Kolankiewicz
Promotion
I am so glad for you in this moment
of your triumph, for I know what success
can cost, the nudging without an elbow,
this figuring how to get from here
to there, placing yourself in the precise
moment, reading the room, rewarding the
needy, promising the ambitious, then
placating the betrayed, distracting the
dangerous, assuaging the ostracized,
calming fears that brought you to the table.
Having Seen Just
Before long, we ran out of options. No
longer tortured by the need to make the
right decision, we stopped stumbling among
options like children in the dark until
a sense of peace gradually came to our
awareness, appearing in the increased
depth of our sleep, the lack of dreams, even
the way in which we awoke, as slowly
and with as much leisure as when we were
young in summer. This stage must be what they
call acceptance, no more arguing with
God or each other, giving up bargains
we were poorly suited for but which we
were driven to offer from a sense of
desperation, the anxiety that
stirs inside when we realize we’ve choices
to make and have never faced the head of
any trail, whatever crossroad, with such
a need to know our location when we are
lost, the importance of sensing where we’re
placed before we choose from among paths. Now
we’re on our course, or it’s on us, which means
we’ll become what the street sign’s pointing toward,
even though we only imagine the
destination, having seen just the name.
