Observer Effect by Valerie Parente

I once had an incredibly vivid dream
that I was conducting an experiment, and I died
and I watched the wall I was looking at
lose a richness only living eyes could provide.

They say you can see the fluidness of life
vanish from a dead person’s eyes
but it actually goes both ways
my ghost saw the same wall, and it was dry.

The world is missing something too
when it is no longer witnessed by a life
I discovered that the simple act of observation
gave the inanimate a quality I can’t describe.

When I’m awake, you know they say
that all matter has its own vital signs
what might be breath in a living body
might be in a wavelength collapsed time.

It all sounds crazy outside of slumber
but my lucid slumber helped me recognize
that miracles like life extend our bodies
and what is on the outside is as divine as you and I.

– Valerie Parente (4-27-2025)