Peter Leight
Philosophy of Waiting
As long as I’m waiting I have plenty of energy,
more than enough,
although it’s mainly potential.
Not waiting for anybody
or waiting for anything to happen,
not really,
that’s not the point,
if something happens it’s not because I’m waiting,
As long as something hasn’t happened it doesn’t have to happen,
do you see what I mean?
Not waiting for my turn,
or waiting until I’m ready—
sometimes people think I don’t care,
of course I care,
if I didn’t care
I wouldn’t bother to wait.
When you’re waiting you don’t have to do anything,
although there’s no reason not to do anything—
I’m not sitting on my hands,
not at all,
I mean it’s not what I’m waiting for.
I often stay inside when I’m waiting,
waiting inside,
in my room,
making an index with my index fingers and thumbing through it with my
thumbs,
not waiting for anything specific—
this is how you know you’re not doing anything wrong.
I often wait by myself,
although waiting together with another person who is also waiting is a good way
to meet people,
as in a line you’re standing in when nobody is ahead of anybody
or behind anybody—
it’s not like waiting for the bus,
when you know it’s coming,
otherwise you wouldn’t wait.
While you’re waiting you can actually do anything you want—
it doesn’t matter how you wait,
or how long,
or how much longer you’re going to wait.
As far as patience is concerned I’m not thinking about it in those terms.
Peter Leight's poems appear in Paris Review, AGNI, FIELD, Beloit Poetry Review, Raritan, Matter, and other magazines.
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