Gripped

Gripped

By the fear that Is.

life transformed in an instant

where never again

can you go back

to the has been.

Frozen

in an instant

while living the rest of life.

I continued to “just do it”

way before nike, not the athena version

the shoe

I trod.

All gone,

the automaton

Living bold adventures mechanically

since in an instant

it could all be pfft.

evaporated

sublimated

except it wasn’t,

I crippled on.

It’s time to thaw.

Let all that water flow out as tears

Searching and lurching,

reliving the years.

This is it; it’s the start.

Cold cups of condensate melt from the heart.

memory’s hands loosen

their squeeze

on the throat

the drips, the grips. 

Learn how to float.

The rigid rivets relax

their hold

And now

I’ve slowed

to scrutinize.

Still circled in fear

a prison of my own

a life held dear.

The bars were the ocean,

the bars was the sea

that vast expanse now vanished from how I can flee

to force an examination

of whom I could be.