Kelci in Motion

a tatty smooch stings
the talking chorus

kinetic baby
bathes in tahiti

glinting, pours zaffer

-- excerpt from "portrait of the muse as a young woman" by kelci m. kelci
 
In 8th grade my dad was helping me study for a science exam. When we came to kinetic on the vocab list, he suggested the following mnemonic device: kinetic: of, relating to, or resulting from motion: kelci in motion: kinetic kelci. 

Could he see into the future or was it a simple memory tool? 

I am about to set myself in motion, and it follows, according to Newton's laws, I will tend to stay in motion. 

It's not as simple as beginning to move to stay in motion: it's staying in motion to reach for the proverbial stars. The researcher masquerades as a book artist; the poet masquerades as an information professional; the full time employed masquerades as the vagabond. I hope each line of poetry I write, each archived manuscript I consult, each hand-printed page I bind, and each social history object I catalog brings me closer to the adult I imagined being when I was in 8th grade, that winter night I was studying for the science exam with my dad.