Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Dumbfounded
What if all your hard times were a long ago?
What if your scars and shames are folded in the drawer?
What if you worry a hatchet is lying in wait?
How would you change your day?
Would you find new clues to catastrophe?
Would you fling the drawer on the floor?
Would you envy the bleeding and troubled?
How would you decide what is next?
Would you relax into soft arms?
Would you smooth the sheets and plump the pillow?
Would you keep watch for mad dogs and dangerous spiders?
How would you go on?
Would you decide you have already paid?
Would you paint the past in new colors?
Would you protect your neck from the ax?
6 Comments on “Dumbfounded”
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Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
I like the way you use questions to play with the poetic structure of this–it makes it feel quite fresh and really helps to convey the message. 🙂
For me, this is about what is next after we reach a goal. Or after we realize our lives are too comfortable and we need to shake things up.
What a beautiful poem with so many thought-provoking questions.
You do a great pretend, Jan.
Very nice!
Fine poetry!