Sometimes, you need a bridge
where there is no river.
The ground falls away
& you need that pique experience —
looking down on everything
without ever having climbed,
sky & water wearing the calm
blue uniform of authority.
Held up by high-strung cables,
speeding through our lives,
we could all use a pause
to adjust our perspective,
get in touch with who
we really are & what
brings us here, dry-
mouthed or sweaty,
death as close
as a sudden, wild leap.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- Poem for Display in a City Bus
- Poem for Display in a Subway Car
- Poem for Display at a City Reservoir
- Poem for Display in a Veterans’ Memorial Park
- Poem for Display in a Public Library
- Poem for Display in a Hospital Waiting Room
- Poem for Display in a Municipal Building
- Poem for Display in an Abandoned Factory
- Poem for Display in an Inaccessible Location
- Poem for Display at a Police Checkpoint
- Poem for Display Above the Urinals in a Men’s Restroom
- Poem for Display in a Vacant Lot
- Poem for Display in a Shopping Mall Food Court
- Poem for Display in a Housing Project
Really REALLY loved this one. So dark; so right.
love the opening two lines & “we could all use a pause to adjust our persective.” i love the cleverness of this. it’s amazing the things you write about and make beautiful and poetic.
Of all your municipal poems, this one most directly confronts our relationship with authority, I think. I like the high contrast the subject calls for: “calm blue,” “pause,” & “touch” vs. “high-strung” and “sudden, wild.” The contrast is more succinct in “dry-mouthed or sweaty” (though this wet/dry suggests a coming convergence), and most succinct in just the word “pique,” which is such a nice linchpin. Nicely done.
Thanks, y’all. It’s always gratifying to win the approval of people whose writing I respect, particularly in cases like this where I’m not sure if I succeeded in getting my meaning across.