when i was younger
i sat in the back seat of my parents' car
and stared out the window.
it was mostly trees i saw--
blurs of moldy green and dark brown.
but i liked the way the colors swirled together
and all the lines of the trunks smeared.
so i built a camera in my head
to capture each image as the car drove
a steady 45 miles an hour.
i'd look intensely at the scene,
close my eyes for a second
and when i opened,
tried to remember everything.
for the first few seconds i could
but, then i couldn't.
i'd take another picture
and do it all over again.  
i could never hold on to it.
it was my first lesson.