So what, if you feel

The same as I do.

Just because you made it

Doesn't mean that I'm as tenacious

I think of all the times

I haven't given up

And what is giving up?

Is this giving up?

Is it resting on your laurels?

Is it status quo?

The day to day

Insane and mundane?

Or is giving up

Selling your soul

At a nickel a word

A dollar a stanza

It giving up

Just not doing it at all

Restricting the flow

Like a dam that will

One day burst?

Is giving up

Pulling the plug

And stopping it all,

Watching it drain harmonically with

Solemn refrain?

Is giving up,

Really holding on;

Breaking free from

Your excuses and

Pathetic inhibitions

Your lies wrapped in reason;

Not the ones you tell others

Because those weren't really lies

Those are their assumptions,

More crucial, the mistruths

Whispered in your own ear

That slip from your own voice,

Releasing these,

Latching onto purpose

And a drive,

Following a path so vague

You're not sure it matters

If you should suddenly decide

To sharply veer to the

Left and feel the momentum

Taking you into free fall

Over a cliff.

What is really giving up?

Wasting my life

One moment at a time

Standing in line

Behind ladies

With over a

Hundred and seven

Items, that brim

A loaded shopping cart.

And in front of a

Freezer case

Full of single

Microwavable meals.

Or waiting for the bus,

When the one I just missed

Was three minutes early,

This one's sure to be late

Or for a tone to drop,

An alarm, jump a truck

We're on our way,

To save the day.

On hold for an hour

Just to be disconnected;

"I'm sorry, your call cannot

Be completed as dialed.

Please hang up and try your call again. "

Or mail you should have on

Thursday

But won't see 'till next

Wednesday

Because of a national holiday.

Or a three day train

With a two day delay.

For winter to fade

And spring's return.

Or the last five minutes

Of a corporate slave's work day,

Clinging to every

Tick, every tock

Watching the clock.

Or slowly, in a rocking chair,

Waiting to stop waiting,

For when jack jumps from his box.  

Peace in my soul

Is all I need

To know I'm not

Losing control

Why can't I just let go?

Abandon my pride,

Limitations, and expectations

And accept that I don't know

Reflections in the mirror

Jaded and ignored

Come to the light

Everyday becoming clearer

The days tumble by

Like ribbon unraveling

From a spool

Monday is Thursday

And Domingo and

Miercules,

I can't tell where

One ends and another begins

Which is next,

Which have passed,

And why must we

Begin all over again?

A copy of a copy

Rewind, push play.

There was more

I had to say.  

Orion has passed

Ursa Major is here

Past images disappear

My mind becomes clear

Catch & Release

Bait her on a lie

Reel, tug her out

Hook, line, sinker

Watchin' her die

Hate yourself

Life you let

Dry out.  Death.

Pause, rewind, play.

Alive, you see;

Cut her line,

Ease yourself.

Let her choices

Foster altruism

Acquire her love

You set her free. 

Video of reading at the Granary 3.21.11