I craved a Snickers bar and a Sundrop,
But I only had one quarter and five dimes
And three pennies in my wallet.
My last day at the rodeo
Was all of six seconds
Give or take a tenth or two.
Holding my rope
My gloved hand straining
Fit to burst.
I remember checking my office drawer for spare change
Only to discover an old red pen
That I used to love to calculate with.
Use your body or use your mind:
Both are physical enough to stress.
Both can feel the pressure of the rope.
Six point one seconds lets say...
He passed that six seconds mark lets say...
Not bad for his last day at the rodeo.
My need for chocolate and sugary water
Was perhaps symbolism for something deeper?
My desire to ride the eight-hundred pound monster
Was perhaps foreshadowing of my eventual destruction?
All the Ooohs and Aaahs of the crowd
Slowed and slurred through my arcing decent
Satisfy my hunger.
The snapping of bones and joints,
The ripping of tendons and muscle:
All audible proof that I existed.
My last day at the rodeo
Was all of six seconds.
But to a bug, a wave,
A thought, a dreamer,
Six seconds can be a lifetime.
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2 comments:
i don't know what to say. it made my mind quiet...
That was some kind of beautiful I think. A better poem than I ever wrote, for sure. And I wrote some poems for this poetry class I took. I'm no damn poet is what I learned there. But this, this was neat. What does it mean? Did you quit your job? Did you not get a snickers bar? Did something come to life and buck you off? Oh!
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