He loves the camera,
he loves selfies,
he loves all the attention.
He’s my four-year-old grandson.
No, actually, you weren’t
thinking of my grandson,
who really is completely
self-absorbed, as it should
be at that age, the age of
gaining a sense of self.
You were probably thinking
of the temporary occupant
who needs the camera,
the selfies,
the constant attention
of the madding crowd,
which, hopefully, my
grandson eventually will put away.
The temporary occupant can’t
because, for him,
he exists only in the camera,
in the selfie, in the attention
of the madding crowd.
He is nowhere else.
Erehwon was the name of
an outdoor shop — nowhere spelled
backward — the out-of-doors,
the “everywhere place.”
We are part of Erehwon — everything.
The temporary occupant is a part of
nothing except the camera,
the selfie, the constant attention
of the madding crowd.
How profoundly sad for
the temporary occupant
who, in his mind, is Erehwon
but is nowhere.