after Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”
You do not have to be on camera.
You do not have to stare into the screen
for a hundred hours through the meeting, smiling.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
exist behind your screen.
Turn your video off, and I will turn off mine too.
Meanwhile life goes on.
Meanwhile the dishes in the background clink, and a dog barks,
and I can’t see your slides,
and I can’t hear you either,
I think you are on mute, could you try again?
Meanwhile a distant sound feedbacks through an unmuted mic,
echoing back and forth in the void.
Wherever you are, no matter how distant,
the world asks for your attention,
your response by Friday at 4:30 PM, urgent and oblivious,
over and over demanding your presence
in the hollowness of things.