Retrospective Innocence

We invent imaginary places
To house the real people. We
Do not concern ourselves with
The separation of sense or consciousness,
Whisking the frivolity of it away
With a firmer understanding—
A more complete contemplation—
On the nature of reflective insolence.
We genuinely shame ourselves into guilt,
Forming a retrospective innocence
That never was and never will be,
If only to procure for ourselves—
To verify the unlikely possibility—
That it ever existed.

poem by Tim Stensloff
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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