envisioning

 

i envision a rotting fence post in the ground

on a farm in Iowa

in my mind I can see three old men in a park

playing dominoes

what I wonder does the butcher do when he

runs out of meat

with or without me i suppose christmas will

arrive on time again this year

i hear the dripping faucet keeping time with

beethoven’s fifth symphony

I am dizzied with the feel of earth spinning

beneath my feet

if you had only two lines to write a thesis

how would you articulate defeat

the sun rises to the top of no man’s land

and not a living soul is there to see

some thoughts streaming endlessly can

drive a man to insanity

i was once lost and forgotten on the streets

of sydney

i knocked on a hundred wooden doors

and no one ever came to answer

i finished my beer at the pub left a handsome

tip and quietly walked away

i never returned to that iowa farm and the rotting fence

post not even my closest friends had ever seen

some would say insane while i contend wild and crazy

dreams

with professional clinical reasoning my therapist

diagnosed differently

i sat drinking away all my options one winter’s afternoon

it was time to go home but instead I turned and sat

motionless in place

                            -30-

Chris Hanch 11-15-2020