A Day on the Lake a Decade Ago

Wavelengths don’t pass here for any
Reason except that they happened.
The world is a godawful tale,
Its own tedious autofic,

Which is why people have to craft
So many attempts at better
Stories they can tell about it.
But this poem isn’t a story.

It’s a lyric! One said brightly,
Nodding vigorously to show
The level of recognition
And wanting to be credited.

But it’s true as well for lyrics,
The professor sighed, morosely.
There is no justification
For any clunky passages

By claiming this really happened.
Readers arrive with memories
Of their own you have to trigger
Unexpectedly, make them strange.

The little boat bounced on the waves.
No really. That’s where we all were
When we had this conversation,
No lyric except it happened.