In this tunnel
where fear is an animal
smothering me
with unbearable fur,
I feel earth tremble
as if an ocean,
trapped beneath trees and rocks,
is pounding hard
against roots,
the way my heart hammers
against its own roots of dread.
I have heard the same roar--
tornados thundering toward me
like stampeding buffalo
until terror slams me awake.
Now this darkness
opens its one bright eye.
Light that does not mean hope
drives the future
at me fast,
your death a black train
filling the space
between me and escape.
© Jean Sampson, 2012
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| Locomotive in Chicago subway, circa 1919; photo from Wikimedia Commons |
3 comments:
Jean, this is a beautiful poem, full of soulful power and sharp imagery. Glad you submitted it. Linda Suddarth
Thanks, Linda. I appreciate your comment-----I really like your work, too. I hate missing the group but that is the night I teach painting :( But it is nice to connect on FB!
Thanks, Linda, for joining Jean in commenting on the poems that have been posted. I hope others will begin to catch on to the idea that the blog can be as much a sharing and supportive venue as the monthly readings!
I like what you have done here, Jean. It is a real change from the haiku and imagistic poems you have shared with us before. Like Linda's "Mother Moon," it taps into the emotional power of our dream world.
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