Getting My Breath
We are in the age of raging time,
rhyme and reason down the drain
with our coffee grinds,
quick views and videos, terror on the tubes,
smart-mouths cursing
between commercials
repeating Breaking News.
Find somehow a parking place,
stand in line, glazed over,
gulp a drink, make smiling face,
chew on a Something Burger,
Spray underarm deodorant
so your sweat smells sweet—
sit at the computer,
tap away,
sinking in your seat--
gaze at the little icons,
brand them in your brain;
wash the car to guarantee
a bath in Acid Rain;
set alarm and throw it down,
put body in a shower,
Stop a minute! Cries the churchman—
time to smell a flower!
Time to look in someone’s eyes,
Past the flickering nod,
to run through open fields again,
to contemplate a God—.
Cook your dinner,
stub your toe,
write bills --small change keep—
moments touching tender skin
through packages of sleep---
stand aloof and shy because
you said the wrong damn thing:
watch a Sitcom, sponsored by
all your plastic things—
O what to tell the child inside
that still believes in dreams?
(O young girl, and O young boy,
deafened by the screams?)
As for Romance--
not a chance
though still a wavering ray
of Light I see: I’d like a Knight
to carry me away.
But if I were innocent Maiden Fair,
with bosom bound in silk,
the men on my street
would rape me down
for Heroin and Coke.
I’ve no time
to quaff the wine,
can barely wash my hair,
and the clocks tick on as my life winds down
running down the stair—
(and in the store, a pregnant clerk
is not allowed a chair…)
So all of us are forced to stand
And Never Can Sit Down:
the ants in ant-mounds ---better off---
hurrying around.
I’m out of breath
I’m out of time --
there was so much to say
I always thought
I’d get the chance
But life just breathed away.
JVB U of Louisiana @ Lafayette 1998
Copyright © Judyth Vary Baker | Year Posted 2010
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