No Beginning, No End

This is the beginning of nothing to say today.

No beginning, no end, nothing in the middle

to explain. Don’t ask me why, not a damned

thing comes to mind. My thoughts are burnt

toast without butter to slather, crusty crumbs

no jelly, no jam. I am what I am, at least today.

And who knows, perhaps tomorrow the same,

no melodic chorus, no meaningful refrain. A

blank, no aces held in my hand, the short straw

drawn, no excuses or explanation to vindicate.

A vacant lot where a house once stood, a blighted

neighborhood, a flightless bird, extinct some

would say, a Dodo by any other name. Where

indeed would Mary, Mary Quite Contrary be

without a garden to grow? Same place I find

myself today. It’s as if Jack and Jill had no hill

to climb, where four and twenty blackbirds were

never baked in a pie. Seems as if word play is all

which remains today. What a ridiculous notion,

I know. But, no one claimed this was going to

be easy.

Chris Hanch 6-10-19