Unfettering

Slap irony in its numb face with your flagrant beauty --
Push the river into rainstorms
Any energy is better than that dull accepting disdain.

I don't care whether you use your power
To create or destroy. But if you leave the batteries in the drawer,
They will corrode. Turn their acid on themselves and rot into lace.

You could build a tower to offend gods and airplanes,
Dig that backyard hole to China (or just hide the bodies there) --
There must be something you wanted before you saw the ad for it.

I'm not doing this for my health...
Or maybe I am. I'd corrode otherwise,
And rotting away on a sofa is not in my action plan.

What, you thought I was working without a net?
Eyes only on the prize in my next ice-filled glass?
Baby, we need to talk. This is boot camp

For my reality. This is the third grade,
Where I discovered chemistry and frogs
And that my teacher had shocking green eyes.

I always take the seat by the window.
There are places out there -- places I haven't decided
Whether to create or destroy. But I have them in mind.

I have a great deal in mind. Now if you don't mind
(Or even if you do),
It's high time we burned something.

(c) Dorothy J. Hickson