Already
By D. B. Asher
After I felt the spirit pass
I moved outdoors to feel the sun
Already I wanted more
A wind blew through the house
Slamming doors along passages
Where there were no doors
That’s how old I was already
I had a house, I had doors
Along phantom passages
I knew enough about ancestors
“To be dangerous”
As they say, as I never do
Enough to wonder which one
Wandered our home at gale force
Which was cross with me
Not enough to know I was
Always already (immer schon)
all of them
I had no cause to presume
They were celebrating
Slamming their applause
That having passed through
The short path of my long bones
They kept on after I left
“Popping off”
As they say now, as I never do
I shall be pleasure to you, too
I will be that wind
D. B. Asher
While studying at Grinnell College, D.B. Asher was awarded a prize from the Academy of American Poets, before completing a PhD with distinction from Northwestern University, and training as a socio-analyst at The Institute for Psychoanalytic Training & Research in New York City. She leads a global consultancy and serves on the Board of Directors at The American Poetry Review. Some of her poems can be found in the print
journal Inverted Syntax and online on Instagram (db.asher.self).
Photo credit: Marcos Paulo Prado
Apricot Press 