Along the ditches

-from The Weather Not the Weather-

       running                     

                                                        in a straight line

                         at   full   speed

                      not 

                                      chased

                       but   imagining

          must

          be

                         at     full speed

                                                       hearing  only  his

                                             breath

feeling only

         the  heat in the head            the pain

    in the body

                               thinking only

      of the feeling

                                then           of the  certainty   of   losing

           everything

        and           everyone

                    

                                                 press   on

                                               head    down

                                                    move  only forward

        the heat

                     in the   face

       the speed

  along         the      ditches

                                                then thinking

         

           only   of

        the

        feeling

This poem appears in the 2008 Anthology
View all poems by Ric Royer