Awareness

Rocking back
on his heels
the boy watched her
do a split on the rec room floor
and thought about things
he’d never thought before:

in a split second, then,
history he’d been learning
and biology he’d not known
began to kick in, and he manned up
in exactly the manner expected
of a boy his age.

Do you recall
your own split second,
that instant when the switch flipped on
and you were switched on
so that a current flew through you
from someone standing across a room or a yard?

Did it flash upon you as expected
by all around you, or were you suddenly alive
and confused at once because
it didn’t mesh with what you’d been told
would happen?  And – how are you now —
is that a good memory?  Have you

told anyone?  Met anyone who shared it?
Go ahead and speak of it.  You weren’t wrong to feel it.
Wrong is a label we apply too easily.
It keeps us from speaking up, looking
for the source.  From finding the outlet
that will light us.