Walking on Ice
Saint Paul, 25 February 2006
If you spent as much time as I have looking down walking on ice
you’d know salt is Byzantine and gravel enlightened. Any need
for explanation illustrates my dilemma. My instinctual observations
on salt and gravel snatch your happiness leaving me on the floor
of an empty apartment wondering what’s going on back at the house.
If you spent as much time as I have looking down walking on ice
you’d know I talk to myself, embarrassing my wife and children,
interviewing myself day after day, asking infinitely thoughtful
questions and giving my full attention to the answers.
If you spent as much time as I have looking down walking on ice
you’d have already asked if fine food is like poetry, why is one
so expensive and the other free --knowing it’s because we need to eat
and knowing each stanza is like trying on a new clown suit hoping
to find one that’s comfortable and doesn’t repel the very persons
from whom we longingly seek approval.