Persistence of Vision

Persistence of Vision

They say our eyes perceive an image less

than half the time at the standard rate of

twenty-four frames per second triggering

the electrical and chemical sleight

of hand known as persistence of vision,

giving my profane creations rendered

flip book style in the outer margins of

my eighth grade algebra text a sacred

patina, a phenomenon that sheds

light in one corner but leaves another

in shadow, a quiet place to sit and

wonder about the dark gaps between the

frames that, if my math is correct, occur

more than half the time at the standard rate   

of twenty-four frames per second, a dim

corner with a desk, chair and window where

I will write the screenplay for the film of

our lives to be screened once and only once

at one frame per second, spaces between

a mad tangle of joy and tears, where we

will sit side by side in the balcony

until the lights come up, the credits roll.