Sigh the Old Machine
(one or the other)

I exhale
Without anything to share
Not really
Not a single thing
(so to say)
But a confession
This is the land I walk in
Today
A land of shapeless
Lack of opportunity
Without orientation
I could walk
This land for days
And come across nothing
Usefully
Defined

And so keep wandering
‘Til shapes arise
Small to left and right
Then something large
Like a statue
In a city
Or a fountain
And I must walk around
Taking in what detail
Might appear

Ask myself
About the sculptor
And the occasion
For such a thing
To rise

And on the other side
After a while
There it is
The tower stands
The phallic thing

To knock down
Then to go around
The ruins
No longer keeping me
From the pleasant
Fecund valley
Just beyond
And
Look
There’s sun
And moon
And opportunity
With many things
Like words

C L Couch


Photo by Gian Gomez on Unsplash