Gravitas

For every poem

I put here,

there are four more

never shared,

around six never written

and twenty-seven partially thought out.

For every word

that hits the body like a pointed

icicle, fractured from the eave,

whistling, shattering, dripping in ink

and finally melting into nothing

in the strong daylight of to dos-

there is still, every chance

for a point to form 

itself. And so I just let gravity

weigh the choice-

to keep holding on or simply

let it melt away. 

Painting by Pekka Halonen, 'Rock covered in ice and snow' c. 1911, Finnish National Gallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Gilt not guilt

Failure is all the rage

these days.

I have been practicing, and I understand

the rage.

Someone said that melancholy

is tragedy handled well. 

breaking out of your comfort zone

Is the key to freedom from 

the cottage of contentment.

too small for you but everything 

you think you need, 

within arms reach.

How do you know

what you need- Now

Meditate, 

we are advised- Let it go

as if commitment was the culprit.

Break habits, make space and then

Kintsugi.

Same thing as working with what we have. 

Is that the work

that pays 

nothing but costs everything?

Expectations interfere,

and fear is expected.

For the winners-

overcome and overflowing; All

the times we cannot hold onto,

the memories we cannot release

and the future that refuses to arrive.

Setbacks and leg ups, 

there was always more to gain by loss.

Painting by Nikolai Yaroshenko, 'Portrait of a woman' c. 1893 in Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.