NATHANIEL LACHENMEYER

1989

Despite seeing and doing
the right thing

multiple times
and enjoying sex

and lies and videotape
and of course swearing

off rabbit after watching
Roger and me

and trying desperately
to uphold or at least

finish the Dekalog
and even I almost forgot

transferring to NYU
and making not one

but three brilliant
but now tragically lost

shorts that summer
before changing my mind

and returning to philosophy
in the Windy City

and then inevitably
according to Nietzsche

dropping out
I somehow managed

and believe me
it is easier said

than done to never
become the greatest

or one of the greatest
or even one

of the filmmakers
of my generation

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer is a disabled author of books for children and adults. His first book, The Outsider, which takes as its subject his late father’s struggles with schizophrenia and homelessness, was published by Broadway Books. Nathaniel has forthcoming/recently published poems with The American Poetry Review, Poetry International Online, North Dakota Quarterly, Epiphany, Red Rock Review, F(r)iction and The Berlin Poetry Review. Nathaniel lives outside Atlanta with his family. www.NathanielLachenmeyer.com.