Portrait

Bob, , 
You sit
Here and invest in the part of you 
That has no beginning. 

Eyes fixed on the wooden
Fireflies.

A deserted city for a headband.

Shoulders like Heisenberg's uncertainty 
Principle. 

The to-do list of dusk in the air. 
Which you have always taken seriously.

And a tattoo
Of wings put on the bottom of the feet.

The
Void for what it is, the thread count of 
Existence. 

You think, 
Did the universe inflate, superfluous
Of compass, all in one go of it? 

Behind you the sky, 
Not knowing how many
Keys make an accordion, 
Shoulders the long way 
Home. 

This is clear. 
As it is uneven, and croaked like meaning.
Like a portrait. 

What the words have to do with this,
Is an emergency.

10 thoughts on “Portrait”

  2. so much in this one; the killer one for me is ‘shoulders like Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle’: still getting my head wrapped around that one. Bob but there are other gems too, like tatts on one’s feet: it’s a wild ride in your poems, Bob, but hey! I’m hanging on for the fun and fizz 🙂

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  3. I am so amazed by the unity in the poem among all these abstract and enthralling images. It feels like one idea supported by many ideas that I haven’t always understood but am still awed by. There’s a famous haiku by Basho which is something like:.
    The frog floats on water
    By the power of clinging
    To nothing at all.
    That describes my brain when reading this poem. A wonderful sensation of floating like a frog who clings to nothing safely.

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    1. Thank you so much! What a wonderful of you to say I’m glad you liked it. And I really appreciate the comment. And thank you for including that haiku by Basho, I wasn’t familiar with that one.

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