Cannot
the way
It cannot be seen.
It cannot be felt.
It cannot be heard.
It cannot be smelt.
It cannot be you.
It cannot be me.
It cannot be them
(I’m sure you’ll agree).
It cannot be first.
It cannot be last.
It cannot be hence.
It cannot be past.
It cannot be one.
It cannot be two.
It cannot be more,
and less will not do.
It cannot be done.
It cannot begin.
It cannot press on.
It cannot give in.
It cannot be new.
It cannot be old.
It cannot be bought.
It cannot be sold.
It cannot be lost.
It cannot be found.
It cannot be loosed.
It cannot be bound.
It cannot be held.
It cannot be tamed.
It cannot be sensed.
It cannot be named.
Finished August 4, 2025
© Thomas James 2025. All Rights Reserved.
For the Curious: This one is a little different for me. Sometimes my wheelhouse feels cramped. Do you get that?
Since we’re talking, look for my new chapbook, Afterlife, coming August 26th, 2025, from Crooked Circle Press.
This poem has been published in The Crooked Circle, an individualist collective of structured anarchy.




It’s giving me a little bit of a Lewis Carroll vibe in its contrariness. Also I am having difficulty restraining myself from making a “whoever smelt it, dealt it” joke, but I will endeavor to forge forth without hammering on…
Cool piece. It had a way of building unexpectedly for me! Like a cyclone unwinding itself 🙃