Give Chase

A lupine stealth stepping 
Feline in pounce, Fool by lack of fear 
Enigmatic, there and gone 
Hitching west on fast skies 

West, I think, was it west 
Sense of direction about blitzed 
Ripping up roots, chased by drones 
acting like dogs sick of bones 

None of my senses prove 
anything actually exists 
Maybe we chase things that don't 
or did before they didn't 
or they bob and weave, phase in and out 
Only borrowing form when strategic 

What melted into cumulus 
I believe is real sometimes 
Might well return and 
rhyme won't be sufficient 
when it locates me alone 
or seemingly alone 
The realest voice within 
anywhere I am 

Be here, scary ain't scary 
It ain't all scary 
Light threads through, badges the dark 
Scary don't stay scary 
Brave stays brave 
Brave gets joyful 
Joy marks us, forever tattooed 
in each iteration 
Not solely by image 
By sanctified names said at the creche 
It can be scary to not feel scared 
There is a ripe, sweet bounty here 
to gladden your trip 
Ground that won't throw you off
and every day, a chance of an answer 
that isn't actually emanating from the sky 

But emanate it does 
Celebrate in sporadic rhyme 
that grows wild 
whether or not we will it 
that some never find any worth in 
Refusing to know flow 

Not the only flow 
but what an addictive one 
One I obsess about even when I refuse it 
I refuse to do many things 
while doing them again 

Maybe it's not a song this time 
Maybe being caught dead to rights isn't lyrical 
It's possible I'm scribbling in purgatory 
Cataloguing some hard shelled 
exoskeletal lifeform
that doesn't belong here or know how it got here 
that I can scoop into my careful hand to comfort 
and point in a direction it's possible 
their home's in 
Not knowing if it means I ever did anything 
that helped save anyone 
even though I wanted to, even though 
the whole point of poetry isn't 
necessarily to save 

It's cool if it can, it's ok to want it to 
but you can't be surprised when 
car crashes still happen 
Everyone who dies would all still die
if you wrote "are not" rather than "ain't", I guess

All that spills from you, gory and cussing you 
can elicit flashback and heart stomp and 
love at last, the last place anyone 
would ever look for it 
but stormtroopers are hardly ever dissuaded by it 
No one can hear it when bombs are 
dropping in their backyard 
without reason or guilt or ill will 
for anyone they strike into smears 

Poetry can't help you understand 
why your president hates you so 
without knowing you as more than statistics 
if he even checks the statistics 
instead of blindly wielding consolidated power 
to kill us all 'cos he's dying 
How anyone could imagine 
anything after him anyway, he can't imagine 

He made sure to tell us everything 
we admire most about him 
He let us know he fixed everything 
and that we appreciate it 
How we adore the comprehensive gold plating 
he renovated the White House with 
So subtle, so austere, and everyone agrees 
he should spend more money on more of it 
instead of wasting it on something soft 
like ending hunger 

The poor shed more weight 
they can't afford, proudly 
knowing he's dazzled in any direction he looks 
in any room he spins around and around in 
until he's blind from the strafing gold glare 

Just eat the mushrooms 
Spirit away and out to escape him 
Let every color bend your brain in any order 

Find something alive in the woods and give chase 
Telepathically soothing it every step 
that the two of you must form a friendship 
to convince your two tribes to, at long last, align 

It could be dangerous 
but not as lethal as boredom 
when it paints all around you off-white oblivion 
Overriding all the color you swear was there 
on the wall you peered at without it answering 
the whole time the same day
dawned over and over 

But today is for reaching 
For moving limbs we never knew 
or thought to limber 
What interesting joints, groaning, rusted 
until accepting the joy of it 
and delivering you swift to 
another mysterious front 
What is God, keep asking again 
along with everyone 

Imagining harder, prayer invoking more freely 
Not tripped up for once by 
exactly how you say it 
Knowing you'll get a lot of words wrong again 
but this time, you'll remember that's alright 

Trusting Him, trusting the road ahead 
on tile walls where it wasn't 
to the best of your recollection 
Your eyes walk it, both visions interpret it 
Hours go by, spelunking, climbing summits 
motionless by a wall with its 
ecosystem fully restored 

Afterward, exhaustion, contentment 
A feeling of lightness, or promise of lightness 
A sense of actually being right where you are 
Breathing easier in your blankets 
Breathing faster to remember feeling 
in relief starker than you could before 
Doing inventory of every crevice 
yet mapped in you 
Finding it all still there for the feeling 
Treasuring this secret you'll 
tell everyone again and again 
who won't quite understand 

More important, for now, than tyranny 
All the in between places to get lost in 
until your country feels like home once again 
Haze to soften and switch off hyper vigilance
Where the next jump to the next rock 
benevolence floats you the rest of the way on 
if you fall short 
to stop you falling too fast 
to splat on the ground of 
your own subconscious thicket
of squiggly gray wrinkles hiding wilderness 

So much takes root 
because yes, child, you're right with it 
So simple the truth after 
so much effort seeking it 
Reflect on what that means and 
see who else can see