we'd have to wait

the pattern has staying power; that bizarre

illumination which introduces me to the public forum.

I put it up about a year ago, replacing...  

I think a South Beach scene on Martha's Vineyard

as I approached a dead, beached pilot whale.

I don’t know what motivated me to change-up to the pattern,

but I remember its significance as a kid.

from the television screen it meant we'd have to wait,––

wait for the morning broadcasts to begin.

the pattern emitted a crackling static, a soft humming, or slight

hissing sound of which, I was later informed was partly the sound

of the early universe being born, an echo of the primordial space

declaring the presence of itself.

the television pattern told us to wait for a guy named Dave

Garroway, as it hummed along keeping company with the family

scurrying around the kitchen like seven..well, seven of anything

placed in motion preparing for the day ahead, none of us aware

that with the pattern, the early universe was saying "good morning"

long, long, and long before Dave Garroway would.