Should you need it here is your review to remember
that just above & below the moments of helplessness
lingered good moments with no objective measures.
Take a moment to recall the moments you got most excited:
those little cinematographies of summer, the harvest of park
or parking choreographies, those occasional ethereal
slow-motion evenings. Many moments were dark
comedies about the capitalist dehumanization of security.
The bombs were ubiquitous. You had to keep your limbs
loose until the sunrise became a warm velvet.
At the start & end of the year your Mondays featured
students writing about their bodies,
the only resource anyone can claim for most of life.
Several of the year’s best moments came at the birthday
parties of your cousin at fifty-four & your grandmother at ninety,
though there were moments of pot-boiling melodrama
because your mother chose to miss both parties.
The year in review celebrates several days in the company
of your son, daughter & niece: the twentysomethings:
in April in D.C. & over dim sum in Chinatown at Thanksgiving.
High on the moments in review are the extraordinary hands
of your daughter directing her brother & cousin
as she stages an art exhibit selling her handmade lamps
against the unravelling darkness of the government,
her pale soon-to-be-let-go-by-the-Treasury Department
ex-boyfriend coming & going nervously as handsome brothers
came & went. In March there was this brief, glorious moment
wherein there was not a whiff of Trump-Musk spoiling
the air of your ninth-grade niece’s track meet.
A few memorable moments offered glimpses
of what one can be. At this age the most important thing
your talent & resources can secure is healthy love.
The moments you left the phone plugged
in another room always were more memorable
than when you kept the screen close to your face
making everything feel as nebulous as it does.
Those moments are prized for your attention.
You argued whether one had to lie to dream,
the tensions between charm & narcissism,
& the existence of Time with everyone younger than you.
Your niece, son, & daughter: for Thanksgiving:
remember what it felt like having them in the house
when the bombs are ubiquitous.
Some moments were propelled by fantastic
performances by the offspring of others.
Sometimes a moment suddenly put you
directly inside another moment that cut back & forth
across multiple moments & you got lost
trying to reconnect with twentysomethings
whose childhoods were set around you.
At moments like that, it’s important to know
you’re not alone. Your top ten good moments
of the year include seeing “Sinners” once with your son & once
with your daughter. The central conflict
was between creation & consumption on & off
our screens. Real people were real characters.
This year gave you new perspectives on parenting.
Some moments held the best physical comedy in years.
The less inventive through lines & missteps
had everything to do with gravity. You defined space
in terms of boundaries when space operates outside
boundaries. You defined Time by beginnings & endings
when Time has no beginning & ending.
Remember you only have to be good & clear & kind.