I will need to see identification.
What could
I say?
A turning aside
Of convenience for an untenable reaching out
Into strange terrain, poetically without a parachute.
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naïve haircuts 
love it; there’s a whole, menacing story concealed in this neat three-liner 🙂
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Thanks, John. I wrote this after a long week at work. I think i needed to be a bit mischievous.
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I understand that 🙂
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Leaves me curious to see the face (form?) of the one who asked for ID. And behind that one, the nature of the strange terrain. A most intriguing few lines. Something tells me, you couldn’t just make a run for it.
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I think it was my little revolt against rationality. And against the workday mode. Poetry as unsettling and irrational. If that makes sense?
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I thought of old Kafka after reading your poem twice. On the third time, I thought of the narrator not reaching for an ID card in a wallet. Instead, the narrator composing a poem as identification. Discover him or her by their verses. Strange and dangerous and individual. 🌝
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Thanks Dave. A poem as identification, that’s it. But I’m sure that didn’t go well for them.
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What’s a guy to do in a world when you can’t even walk around and wonder? I love that it’s that reaching for something that isn’t there and never will be and yet we do it anyway because it’s in the trying where fun lives.
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I remember a Ray Bradbury story, where the main character was arrested for walking. He decided just to take a walk at night and he was arrested for not driving a car. I’m sure asking for ID and getting a poem instead, will not go over well in that story.
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Beautiful poem
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Thank you, Priti. I’m glad you think so.
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💐
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This poem is fun. It is at once rebellious, mysterious, and humorous; although, there’s an underlying reality here that is somber, indeed. Wonderful work, Bob!
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I agree, there is something somber here. But I’m glad too that there is some humor here as well. Glad you liked it.
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Identification? Oh no, this is where AI wins every time. It probably has my driver’s license, high school transcripts, and a picture of me awkwardly holding a fish at age 12 stored in some database. Me? I’m standing there, wallet forgotten at home, trying to explain why my Costco card should count as valid ID. ‘Strange terrain’ indeed. AI may be parachute-less, but at least it lands on its feet. Meanwhile, I’m flailing somewhere between ‘convenience’ and ‘where did I leave my dignity?’ Great poem—now I feel both deep and mildly panicked!
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Haha. Thanks for the wonderful comment. Good luck with the Costco card working as legit identification. I remember once trying to pay the thruway toll with a Blockbuster card (back when there was toll attendants & and I’m dating myself with the Blockbuster card) but the attendant wasn’t having it. Anyway I’m sure, like you, AI knows way too much about me. Maybe one needs strange ID in strange terrain??
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