‘Bring Your Own Beamer’ is canceled because of the ongoing pandemic

MICHAEL J. GALKO

May 14, 2020

I’ve been sleeping on the couch.

It is easier to prop my head still

because of the throbbing headache.

I wake, and on the living room wall,

thrown by moonlight passing through

the window above the old door,

is a rectangle of leaves, dancing,

the way leaves do, on the wall.

The beamer event would have been

at the Menil. People set up on the lawn,

and the movies or photos are projected

onto the great wooden walls

of the museum. People laugh. Mingle.

Drink. Kiss and fondle. Comment on the movies,

some of which are plain, some fantastic.

It’s now 4 am. My breath is short but fever gone.

The images of the leaves tell me

a few things. Time is passing —

there is a low breeze, and with the breeze,

beautiful motion. Some of the leaves

are thicker than others — you can tell

by the darkness of the shadows.

Maybe Muybridge had such a revelation,

waking from a dream of horses’ feet, running on.

MICHAEL J. GALKO is a scientist and poet from Houston, TX. He has been a juried poet at Houston Poetry Fest three of the last four years and is a 2019 Pushcart Award nominee. He has recently had poems published at descant, Gargoyle, Gulf Coast, Defunkt Magazine, and Sonic Boom.