They All Knew and We Did Not

Misalignment vs. dust and dirt,
Not the same obsessions, not the same
At all—some can be fine with a mess

Well-swept, just so long as their tousled
Sheets and hair remain clean, while others
Must straighten the picture frame, even

As dust piles on the windowsill, dirt
Tramps through the door. A misalignment
Signs no tragedy, and sediments

Simply build this planet’s nonverbal
Archive of pasts disintegrating,
Libraries of crushed information.

There are some content with either one.
There are others who can’t stand either,
And yet, whether you dust or straighten

Your human domiciles and systems,
Lives and stones go on being trampled
Out of doors, and you’ll have to join them.