LIST
John Ashberry
is not on than list
but John Berryman
certainly
Oh why do we do this?
some one can solve this conundrum
come up with
earthly or
unearthly reason
we sing
and then we die
the key that wound us up
lost through some
misadventure
or took a last flight
up and above the skyline
seemingly striving for
escape velocity but
then went kamikaze
so many tiny blades, huge pills,
gas ovens to pop one’s head into
ships crossing
the Gulf of Mexico from whence
just plop into
the waters, lottery between
the sharks and drowning
and there unconsciously the implicit metaphor
that gulf too wide to ever cross
and yet
we persist, we write, crave
love, acceptance, understanding
but get
nowhere
until the knock at the door
and there she is
our Muse
with a chair and rope or
perhaps even a gun
that’s why we write
commit ourselves
to such
self-defeating practice
failure, success,
when you have become the perfect
vehicle
absolute conduit
what does it matter?
what does anthing matter
but the rendering of the thing?