The aim is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive. -Carlos Castaneda
Where do I set the fulcrum
to balance
fear and curiosity
too far one way
makes a homebound,
crazy cat lady
paralysis creeping slowly
from extremities to heart
subsisting on
bland, over-filtered sustenance
through electronic i.v.
but too far the other way
leaves one skewered
on sharp spikes of sarcasm
or burning in fires of
requited or unreturned love
or lost in the dark labyrinth
of an unknown city
following one way roads
to a dead end
There is no middle ground;
if I close my eyes
and step off the cliff
what revelation will come
on the way down?
Image by Emma Clark at at clarkazcreativedesign.wordpress.com
This is in response to Poets United Thursday Think Tank provided by Ella Wilson. Click on the link to read the link to read the prompt and lots of other responses.
This is in response to Poets United Thursday Think Tank provided by Ella Wilson. Click on the link to read the link to read the prompt and lots of other responses.
Sometimes you step off but don't have the revelation until you are clambering back up the cliff.~Mary
ReplyDeleteRight, the climb back up can be a bitch, lol.
DeleteYes we wouldn't want you to be a home bound crazy cat lady..haha
ReplyDeleteHahaha - right!
DeleteThe last stanza is a good question, but I doubt I would be thinking much on the way down...but wouldn't that be awful if one came up with a revelation just at the second death was inevitable!!!! Yikes.
ReplyDeleteYou commented on my puppy post, saying you had acquired a third one. Well, I just 'fetched' my third today. Such a little lover. This is going to be fun. (If only the potty training goes well. LOL.)
The last stanza I didn't mean as a literal jump off a cliff...more like the leap of faith sort of thing.
DeleteAnd congrats on the new puppy! That's very exciting. :o)
I really like this and relate to it.
ReplyDeleteThanks MZ!
DeleteMaybe all our dilemmas are resolved in the answer to your final stanza - but of course, the answer goes with us to the grave. Fine poem.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dave. With that final stanza I was thinking of a Ray Bradbury quote, something about jump and build your wings on the way down.
Deletei like how form meets function in this...presenting either side...and off the cliff i think you already have any answer you will get....smiles.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian. I appreciate the comment on the form. I don't do this often, and am never sure if it's affected and cutesy, or if I'm lacking originality the rest of the time,lol.
Delete