Wish You Were Here You Are

Rachel Zucker

time isn’t the same for everyone there is

science behind this when you fly into space

you’re not experiencing time at the same rate

as someone tethered to Earth & someone

moving quickly experiences time at a slower rate

even on Earth so as I run through Central Park

at a speed not much faster than walking but slightly

I am shattering fields of time around me

& experiencing time differently from those I pass

I’m trying to comfort you you see you will die

but not at one particular speed last night I saw

my son’s adult self & in the same moment

toddler self this really happened he was playing

“Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd on his

electric guitar & feeling it he’s 11 & in between

two kinds of time on the verge of worlds I think

we are too you & I who are old young women

you’re wrong you know it’s not all ‘downhill

from here’ we are here you are & I am & this

beautiful moment our sons

Rachel Zucker is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Museum of Accidents. With Arielle Greenberg she co-edited two anthologies and co-wrote Home/Birth: a poemic, a non-fiction book about birth, friendship, and feminism. Zucker lives in New York with her husband and their three sons. She teaches at NYU and the 92^nd Street Y and is a certified labor doula.