Although You Do

Shadows move on what they shade,

And they’re almost never still.

The mind, that is, all of it,

That fragmentary shadow

Of thoughts encircling the world

As the sun does, but intimately,

Less predictably, almost

Human—here someone stops you.

The mind’s nothing but human!

Nothing’s more human than mind!

You take the interruption

And pause to think. A human

Is a combination, no?

Maybe the mind is almost

Human the way abandoned

Webs are almost spiders, webs

Of any kind are spiders—

Uniquely so, but not quite

Exclusively. Webs exist

Outside of spider species,

Outside of spider bodies,

And mind exists past humans,

Outside of human bodies,

But when you think of a web

Or of a mind, you’re likely

Thinking spider or human.

Still, a web’s not a spider

And a mind’s not a human.

Both kinds of species combine

Bodies with these extended

Phenotypes. So, the mind is

Almost human; a shadow

Is not. The mind may not move

In the way a shadow does,

But, as the shadow of thoughts,

Mind is thrown (peculiar verb

For the calm of a shadow

Or mind in motion) by kinds

Of interference with light,

The interference, for mind,

Consisting of thoughts. Lesser

Light, subdued light, bearable

Is the result of both kinds.

The mind, the shade that stretches

As you tire, the dilution

Of being that thought creates,

Moves around within your skull

And says, you don’t want to know.