Elegy for the imagination
Today I shall write a safe poem:
no phantom buses, nor sucker holes in deep gray clouds;
no witches lurking behind the gingerbread of faith.
I will refrain from mentioning streams that run both ways,
nor invoke gravity that flings me into an unhinged universe.
I will never again smash the locked door to a paltry heart,
nor tell the idiot’s tale of even one tear;
not give the sea a voice to sing of black wave rising, rising,
nor ride the fragile whispers of a dream;
I will not navigate by one star a cosmos of stark, mute silence,
nor glide with the harrier close to passion’s rim,
nor allow the merest whiff of joy to blow across these lines,
but order all things as
they must be ordered
so that everyone may
speak and understand
step with confidence
according to a pattern
today i am writing a safe poem
predictable protected locked sheltered secure
words lines punctuation just so
just so
