Friday, May 25, 2007

Random Thoughts While Responding to Alarms

I've never measured my steps
with the exact science of a mathematical sentence

not on these streets so far from where I was born
not having jumped through the hoop of change
so often that there is a blur between coal chutes and ATM's

I was torn from my homeland by circumstance
and given a country and a culture to learn

perhaps I've been in metamorphosis too long
to understand one equation from the next
one foot placed on concrete the other on a dissolving shoreline

just as one arm is placed across your heart
the other giving birth to another verse

today as I sit at the security desk alarms flash
by in ever-changing rhythms disolving to reform again
like this city which renews and grows with cancerous intent

the distance between my workplace and home is measured and set
the distance between my loves is variable and calculated with potential

2 comments:

C. said...

You have a lot of interesting poems and pictures here. I like this one in particular. The idea of contemplating one's life, one's place in life in general, amid flashing alarms is terrific. It imparts a sense of urgency that makes me feel foolish if I ignore the warnings in my own life. And then the last two lines, especially the word 'calculated,' give the speaker (you:-)) so much power over his own life. I really like it.

C. [The other C.]

C. said...

Hi,

Here I am come round again. Thinking of your line "one foot placed on concrete the other on a dissolving shoreline." Wow. I'm guessing the dissolving shore is the land you left--but you know, it could be just the opposite-- the permanent land could be the one which gave you your genetic heritage, and the dissolving one the shallow ephemera of the modern society.

Whatever--Reading poems and loving being on vacation,
I am,
Your friend,
Carol