Sunday, January 17, 2021 - Sarah Simon “i can’t answer that.”
i can’t answer that
there is a certain transcendental
grace
in saying
“i can’t answer that.”
it is out of my scope i will
humble myself down i am
not fit to respond
responsibly.
precedents,
hypotheticals?
no concrete
details /?/
and then the woodsy Klobuchar,
down to earth on earth following
the tracks since
Minnesota asks,
“why are we even here?”
why,
when we have a public
health crisis?
when we have millions fearing
for their lives when we bend over ovaries
after RBG before the 5 to 4
days (!)
before election when he said
he would take it to court when cases
are spiking with
270 people quarantining
on Long Island,
after the sixteen that Cuomo quipped,
“wasn’t that sweet.”
if you were really all so humble
and responding responsibly,
you would know that
this
is not the moment to be transcendental.
you would listen.
you would listen and not ask her,
who does the laundry?
who washes the dishes?
how do you manage home
school?
oh, you have seven kids, two
adopted.
wow!!
with so many personal questions in what is supposed to be
a service to the country,
i wonder if this hearing and all is really just
planning for the next backyard pool
party or country club
outing or
rose garden
gala.
i wonder if this is to push into our faces
that we never received an invitation,
apparently.
feeling a bit like way back in
2000, when
the popular kids
with lots of old money
interrupt you in the middle of a science
presentation.
the eclipse of a ringing cell phone,
the shrill titillation of a text.
and they blurt out laughing,
cupping a hand over a mouth just for show.
and when the teacher challenges, “what’s so funny?”
they just keep laughing.
“no, no, no. i can’t answer that.”
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Sarah is a New Yorker at soul, teaching English and studying film in Uruguay. Doing all the things to become a multimedia journalist. She published her first book, "core collection: poems about eating disorders" with Adelaide Books in 2019.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19663814.Sarah_E_Simon
Instagram, @ssimon8; Twitter, @smileformebabyg.
