Throttle Ghazal

This entry is part 19 of 47 in the series Morning Porch Poems: Summer 2012

 

In the heart of the downtown section, a stretch of cobblestone streets:
they stop motorists from gunning through them at full throttle.

Don’t put the cart before the horse, don’t jump from the frying
pan into the fire: in other words, don’t go at full throttle.

Who finds caution in the wind? Who gleans the stitches
from the timid rhyme? Not the young, going at full throttle.

In the school parking lot, I skirt the second speed bump when I can. They’re there
for a reason
, says the youngest daughter: to keep you from going full throttle.

On my bookshelf is a History of Doubt, filled with stories of ancient thinkers and
medieval cynics: anyone who might have said Not so fast, not at full throttle.

Who pays heed anymore? Three birds in succession thunk against the glass. Which
one is pursuer, which pursued? Danger and excitement. Dance at full throttle.

 

In response to an entry from the Morning Porch.

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One Reply to “Throttle Ghazal”

  1. GETTING OUT TO GET IN

    Who pays heed anymore? Three birds in succession thunk against the glass. Which/ one is pursuer, which pursued? Danger and excitement. Dance at full throttle.—From “Throttle Ghazal” Luisa A. Igloria, Via Negativa, 07-19-12

    One way of the other, we will get out to get in.
    There are no borders here, nor limits, no doors
    To slam. I am my own clay, brittle now, but I
    Will mould myself any which way I am pleased
    To behold as my own creation, not in the image
    Of someone who chooses to be absent or gone.

    But who cares anymore? There are no measures
    Nor beats I must march by, breathe by. I am free,
    Am I not, to perish any which way I live or err?
    Like my own moulder, shape or reshape my face
    The way I want to meet all the same faces I meet,
    And I will be my own healer, my last and final god.

    Idle now, I am meant to dance at full throttle.
    One way or the other, I will get in before I get out.

    —Albert B. Casuga
    07-23-12

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