Commonword Blogs

I was doing some clearing out recently and came across a couple of poems I'd scribbled a few years ago. Having just read Nabila's poem about falling I thought this one of mine is quite topical. ooh and I mustn't forget to thank SG for the title suggestion and word correction!

Question

Is it possible that the fence,
in its proverbial form,
could remain in place to be
straddled indefinitely;
that the downward spiral
could be teetered on for all
eternity without causing
the slipping, sliding, and
forcing of a reluctant heart
to leave imagined safety?

1.

Before there was Photoshop there were snaps that spoke
a thousand words. A deep pleat in crisp, white
cotton, the pockets pressed down, a pre-emptive
pose of a PhD prospector for knowledge that will be
freedom. A well fingered, all thumbed book of philosophy
and vision resting casually against an old Chippendale.
Pumped-up. Pumped-out by the weights that train a body to
become a machine and the weight of a history defining
a mind that is doctored and denied by a majority.

2.

This morning I put on my crisp, white treads creased to perfection,