A Hop Away

A Hop Away

See,

Just three feet off the path,
                A Ruddy Dadderwing land and flit
                On a storm-felled, dry rotted cypress branch,
                Or an ivory millipede soft-scrunch,
                Over a patch of bared  and sandy soil,            
                Or a White-breasted Nuthatch’s nest,
                Formed of holly twigs and Spanish moss,
                A snake slither overfoot,
                A tailless lizard scamper,
                Deer tracks,
                Duck dung,
                Life.

See,

Just three feet off the path,
                An aged homeless man up close,
                His fetid breath formed on pained whispers,
                Or a shopkeeper opening doors,
                Or just-ripe peaches piled high,
                Or vibrant, cut Crinum Lily buds
                Waiting for vases by foyer divans,
                Stacks of damp newspapers,
                Kids fallen from bicycles,
                Gardens,
                Litter,
                Life.

 

Just three feet off the path,

                Off the sidewalk or the trail,
                Just a hop—a lunge—away from civil safety,
                (Nevermind roads less traveled,
                Nevermind trailblazing the cosmos):
                Disrupt with steps from trodden ways,
                In claiming others’ nearness—
                In staking out the parallel—
                In stalking periphery:
                                                Walk in mud; dirty shoes.
                                               Shake branches; callous hands,
                                                Feed hungry; taste need,
                                                Drop dollars intentionally.
                                                Stand in traffic,
                                                Stack garbage,
                                                Smudge mirrors,
                                                Strip naked,
                                                Sully nests,           
                                                Scream,
                                                Stop.
                Re-path,
                Then see
                Life.