Working for the Weekend

Well, I made it. Five poems in five weekdays. A poem a day was my goal at the beginning of this week. I wanted to break out of theory and just write. I wanted to stop worrying about what to write and just write. I decided that I’d find something to say if I just decided to say something. Now I’m not crowing about the poems themselves, or even what they say, but I am basking in the work.

Icarus at Work

At first he toils within the labyrinth
working his maps to crack a formula

he verified with twenty years of school.
But soon, discovering an algebra

not taught in textbook math, he learns to praise
the exponential. Relishing the raise

in fortunes that proximity to power
is bringing him, he sucks up to the boss,

despite the fact the man’s a lunatic
and sure as shit is bound to double-cross

him. Still he needs the self-esteem he earns—
although there’s something in himself that burns.

It is interesting to me that the poems went from trimeter with a somewhat disjointed narrative to pentameter with much clearer narratives. But sometimes the work, if kept honest and challenging, reveals your true direction. Alright, that’s enough soaring about. I better come back down to earth and start thinking about next week. Have an effing good weekend compadres.