(And 100 days of US mourning so far)

Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World
By Sherman Alexie
 
The morning air is all awash with angels—Richard Wilbur, “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”

The eyes open to a blue telephone
In the bathroom of this five-star hotel.

I wonder whom I should call? A plumber,
Proctologist, urologist, or priest?

Who is blessed among us and most deserves
The first call? I choose my father because

He’s astounded by bathroom telephones.
I dial home. My mother answers. “Hey, Ma,”

I say, “Can I talk to Poppa?” She gasps,
And then I remember that my father

Has been dead for nearly a year. “Shit, Mom,”
I say. “I forgot he’s dead. I’m sorry—

How did I forget?” “It’s okay,” she says.
“I made him a cup of instant coffee

This morning and left it on the table—
Like I have for, what, twenty-seven years—

And I didn’t realize my mistake
Until this afternoon.” My mother laughs

At the angels who wait for us to pause
During the most ordinary of days

And sing our praise to forgetfulness
Before they slap our souls with their cold wings.

Those angels burden and unbalance us.
Those fucking angels ride us piggyback.

Those angels, forever falling, snare us
And haul us, prey and praying, into dust.

Copyright Credit: Sherman Alexie, “Grief Calls Us to the Things of This World” from Face. Copyright © 2009 by Sherman Alexie. Reprinted by permission of Hanging Loose Press.
Source: Face (Hanging Loose Press, 2007)

In addition to the reminder of the hold of the mundane on our everyday in staving off grief, if only momentarily, there’s something of “Thinking Fast and Slow” in Sherman Alexis’s wonderful poem. But since that science has proven less than robust I’m not going to dwell on it here, other than to say, it takes understanding both our responses to intuition and rational thought to understand and improve human decision-making.

Right now, the behavioral study I’d like to see is how so many people can continue to deceive themselves when clear evidence of truth is directly in front of them. I made the mistake of listening to the press conference for the administration’s 100th day. The inconsistency alone of the statements put forward was a mind-f*ck. Saying with a straight face that China stands to lose 10 million jobs from tariffs and this was going to somehow hurt them but not leave the US in pain with empty shelves, supply chain disruption and important shortages? Claiming that Amazon’s plan to break down the tariff portion of prices on their website was a “hostile and political act” rather than a clear statement of the costs of the administration?

I’ll take thinking, fast or slow, and the grief associated, than find myself floating thoughtless down a river of Denial.

Cover image credit: Tim Holmes, Coffee cupping