Jacob's Gauntlet
Crawling the serrated knife’s edge
Oh, how the straight path to dreams winds
Driving the lender’s car towards mirages retreating
Tires still dry, one interview to the next
Eaten a lot of oysters, no pearl yet
Another day with the serial assailant of obligations
Home, the abyss of borrowed things,
mostly time
Engulfing both horizons as door slams
Broad grin of his baby, another inbound arrow
Wife’s taut coral red kiss, encouraging smile,
Bloodshot eyes don’t wrinkle
For each tiny swollen vein another lashing
Tony Robbins quote
on the whiteboard by the fridge
Smudged and flaking
A woman is, a man becomes, it’s been said
Not yet, snarls the humming silence
In the merciless arena, doubt a costly luxury
Maybe I’ll need a mortgage on that, too
He peers down the vortex to see his inky event horizon
Beguiling, giddy horror in depths,
How much is my policy?
No, too easy.
No retreat, just so much harder
If only I’d known what I still don’t know yet
Then I wouldn’t be here
7/5/16
© Thomas W. Quigley
Copyright © Tom Quigley | Year Posted 2016
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