A Brief History of Edges
This road leads nowhere. I live at its end where breezes
wilt and the sun still burns my darkened skin.
I’ve sailed to Oman, but have never seen the Dakotas.
My friend searches for the concealed parable in this truth.
An early clay map depicted Babylon surrounded by a bitter river,
and an island named the sun is hidden and nothing can be seen.
Fitting the limitless within boundaries, she remembers no one.
The lighted sign says boots, but I see books.
Venturing from the shadows, she offers an accord: intersecting borders,
we must retain ourselves, deliver what calls.
In our place between the hidden and the invisible, consider
that neon gas possesses neither color nor odor.
What lives in creases and at the periphery? The isle called beyond
the flight of birds has crumbled from the lower edge.
Where I stand defines my portion of the spherical earth.
Crossing lines, I look to the sky, its bisected clouds.
“A Brief History of Edges” first appeared here in April 2016.
…surrounded by a bitter river is haunting me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Bitter rivers abound these days!
LikeLike
That is awsome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Bruce!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I really love this one, Robert.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Merril. It seemed to mesh well with yesterday’s poem on Riggwelter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it did!
LikeLike
Wonderful!! Worth many re-readings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks very much, David.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Please would you get in touch Robert; rs.rareswan@gmail.com. Thanks so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello! I just sent you an email.
LikeLike
Pingback: Poetry – A Brief History of Edges — O at the Edges – Online Marketing Scoops
I like your geography poems. They always seem to reference conversations with your wife, or femininity, etc. They are perfumed with regret, love and so on. Very nice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I guess they’re about living.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A fine ambiguity to suit the contentious areas of border and identity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Borders and identity seem fluid to me, ever changing.
LikeLiked by 1 person