the people sit in circles
eating small meals
while recounting
what came before
when they open their mouths they
speak as if they’ve got “it” all figured out
and direct their limbs so elegantly
one might mistake them for some prominent conductor
or maybe even an old Greek statue
— how they hold their arms outstretched
— their fingertips extensions of their minds
but then the moment passes
and they’re no longer paused
because they don’t know anymore than
anyone else does, lost just the same,
mesmerized by freedom’s haunt
