"Affirmation"

Ok, here's a working draft of the 20th poem in the Thirtydays series. BK, my best critic, tells me the poems he enjoys most are the ones mined from real life, containing real life details. He doesn't much care for these, which he likely views as an exercise in craft. He may be right. Anyway, it is quite a challenge to craft a paired down, word a line poem like this. Similiar, I suppose to hiaku. The skill comes in eliminating, paring the thing down to its raw essence. The goal is to say just enough, not a word more. This one likely needs some pruning, but here it is anway:

“affirmation”

here

stumble forward

another try

push

brittle

bones

one more

time

up

crooked

streets:

hard-hearted

new york

here

cold

wind

slaps

hard

across your

face

water

falls

down

purifies

night

winter

once again

rain

step around

old

ruins

failed art

memory

step around

be

nimble

hurry

pick up

your pace

behind you

litter

all the times

you screwed up

picked yourself up

and walked

each time

sudden

dawn

blank

canvas

upon which

to paint

things

fall

apart

shatter

come back

together

life finds

a way

to open

a door