Donald Pasmore

Aufheben

And if I failed to discover my clouds, the clouds
that don't let me see my life as it really is, I also failed
to imperil the machinery
—Alen Hamza

In my dream, I wrote a poem
read over my shoulder. I didn’t finish, but the ending
was going to be about doors, about the single ritual

forcing exclusion and inclusion. I didn’t want to be
on either side, I was going to be the door, holding
myself in frame, my limbs fixed. I wanted to greet the planets

as they visited, ask if they were looking
for borders. School teaches not to read
over people’s shoulders, and the Bible

has warned me not to listen to dreams, especially
about travelling to other sinners. I know
my dream-self didn’t think

about water, erosion. Before we can unmold
our skin, unnail ourselves from the cross-
braced guardian and star our bodies

into the constellations, our door has mountained
like every other. And now the morning is dew
and fog, rested like a blanket across

stone. You, like everyone, have
the urge to burn—and Heraclitus teaches us
not to stand in the way of rivers.

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Donald Pasmore is the Editor-in-Chief of 149 Review and is an Assistant Editor of Poet Lore. He will attend the MFA program at Western Michigan University in the fall semester of 2025. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Permafrost, Harpur Palate, Cherry Tree, 45th Parallel, Sugar House Review and others.