Dana Elkun

It Was Known That He Was Under

It was known that He was Under, despite the dissenters, including those who insisted he was Beside, and those convinced he was Through. The debates were vigorous and even rude. The ones waving banners for Below were the most condescending. They made fists and rolled their eyes if someone suggested Above or especially Between. Betweens were mocked mercilessly by the others. People threw apple cores at Betweens. A Below tripped a Between on his way to open a window. And too bad because it was unbearably hot in the room. The girl in back with glasses, who knew that He was Under and would always be Under, remained patient despite the heat.

And what about He? The fulcrum of their disagreement, the chessboard on which their pawns faced off? It was known by He that He was Under and that the girl with glasses knew that he was Under, as if He were the algae on the bottom of a fish tank and she were the upside-down fish, the periwinkle, long-finned fish that stayed below the commotion. Which is to say, they were in love. Or rather, under love, a condition more rare and less exploited by Hollywood. The girl in the back had never seen a movie about being under love although she had seen many movies. And He once dreamed a relevant dream in which He was a train track in a community of train tracks.

Nevertheless. The bickering in the room kept its pace. Between vs. During. Above vs. Without. The ones with the strongest convictions had the most trouble listening. They never changed their arguments or made new observations. And so, they were battling against time, gravitational pull, and the sway of history, which finally, though often pitifully late, reveals the truth, which itself is known to be Under.

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I'm a local poet and a former SASC Instructor.