A Date with Ben Franklin
From (E)vocation by Tiel Aisha Ansari
“why me,” he wonders
Because I wanted to know
what it was really like
feeling that lightning strike
run down the string
handling the hot slag lump
that had once been a key
and now, shapeless and smoking
nonetheless turned in your hand
and opened so many doors
even though it wasn’t really like that
Because I wanted to know
if your legend has ballooned
like the sails on an outer-banks schooner
running before a storm
and needs to be trimmed for accuracy
And I wanted to know if you
would rather be remembered for
the Declaration, the glass harmonica,
the Gulf Stream, abolitionism,
political satire, chess, refrigeration,
being right about the wave theory of light―
most of all I wanted to know
what was it like, just what was it like
then?
Tiel Aisha Ansari is a Sufi, martial artist, and data analyst living in the Pacific Northwest. Her work has appeared in Islamica Magazine, Mezzo Cammin, Untitled Country Review, The Lyric, Barefoot Muse, and the VoiceCatcher anthology from Portland Women Writers. Her poetry has been featured on KBOO, Prairie Home Companion and MiPoRadio and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her collection Knocking from Inside is available from Ecstatic Exchange. You can visit her online at knockingfrominside.blogspot.com.
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