Jeffrey Hermann
The Universe Is Almost Entirely Empty
but it doesn’t come up on the news
Nobody faces the camera to explain
There’s nothing about the argument I had
with my wife, our different ideas for the things
we’ve collected in boxes since we met
Instead they have surveillance video
of a man, drunk, falling out of his truck
in the drive thru, his tacos in disorder
his Pepsi evaporating on the pavement
“I was hungry” he says, “and now look
The moon is drifting away from us”
Where are the children, the theoretical
scientists when you really need them?
They have answers for everything
They would say it’s only a little every year
about the rate your fingernails grow
that lifetimes pass and no one notices
Then a woman does the weather
The studio light is gentle and constant
She’s so beautiful describing tomorrow
A fifty percent chance of everything
Nobody faces the camera to explain
There’s nothing about the argument I had
with my wife, our different ideas for the things
we’ve collected in boxes since we met
Instead they have surveillance video
of a man, drunk, falling out of his truck
in the drive thru, his tacos in disorder
his Pepsi evaporating on the pavement
“I was hungry” he says, “and now look
The moon is drifting away from us”
Where are the children, the theoretical
scientists when you really need them?
They have answers for everything
They would say it’s only a little every year
about the rate your fingernails grow
that lifetimes pass and no one notices
Then a woman does the weather
The studio light is gentle and constant
She’s so beautiful describing tomorrow
A fifty percent chance of everything
Biography
Jeffrey Hermann's poetry and prose has appeared in Hobart, Palette Poetry, Pank Magazine, Juked, The Shore, and other publications. Though less publicized, he finds his work as a father and husband to be rewarding beyond measure.
