“​​No more yesterdays, no more tomorrows, only a younger today, forever today”

- An introduction to Michael Colbert’s new poem by Jaclyn Watterson

One of the great pleasures of the reading life is to encounter a text that transcends the oppressive logic of the everyday and instead imbeds itself in what we might call the soul, seeking, nurturing, and challenging the quivering fibers of our very being. Such is the pleasure of Michael Colbert’s new poem, “As I grew younger.”

In this poem, the speaker, “a gifted mind down and out,” finds redemption in talking with the stars—and it is a redemption beyond time, more powerful than the personal, as expansive as the multiverse. And we, too, as readers, are redeemed in the generosity of the language, the richness of the metaphors.

“Even though I lived and I sat low with the many stars of dark shadows,” the speaker tells us, “standing next to the sun was black me telling the stars of dark shadows, ‘I told you so.’”

In the end, the speaker imparts in us the wisdom and the grace that can only come of sitting low and then growing, not up, but rather out—out toward fellow travelers in the cosmos, where we just might find ourselves, supreme, after all, in our relation and our knowing.

Look for this astounding poem in The Work section of our website, and let its glow embrace you and give to you that great and rare joy in reading—transcendence. Also featured on the website is a recording of Michael reading the poem to you, and his voice is even more melodic and exalted when you can hear it.

Jaclyn Watterson is a writer, teacher, and human based in Astoria, Queens.

Re/Creation will take a vacation from our Dispatches for the month of August. We look forward to connecting with you again in September. In the meantime, keep us in your thoughts, and remember your donations will help keep our Writers-in-Residence program going, so that we can support brilliant lights like Michael.