On Ice Skating

What marvel of humanity,

when, upon gazing at the frozen pond in the park,

decided to walk across to the other side?

 

How did that thought ever come to surface?

What chemical anomaly could trigger

such unusual behavior, such a risk?

 

Do you see what I’m driving at here?

Can you picture it, the first ice skater?

What a fool he must have looked,

 

slipping around in circles.

And what’s more incredible still

is that there were others - 

 

skeptics - who, finally, took the leap

to parade over water, imagining themselves Jesus.

They must have had aspirations,

 

gliding through the nights of January,

thinking they were really on to something now.

Did they stop their slippery antics,

 

ceremonials, to bend over and help

the skinned-knee child? Of course they did.

This was the creation, a new world,

 

the promised land. One offered a hand,

a warm breath into the bitter void, before skating

arm-in-arm into the etched-in labyrinth.

Reviews

[Ashley Griffiths]

Great piece! I love the imagery that use here, and how the piece conjures up images of innocence and a time long gone