15 – I Go Forward

step, step back

blindfolded, groping in the dark

dozing off in the arms of sleep

I don’t know why

into the river

pockets with stones

leaning into the wind

forewarned

still trying

I go forward

or is it backward?

by moving the others

backward, I go forward

but Winter follows, unabated

careful

the world

with the bit in teeth

plans a backwards snap

brakes smoking and screaming

I go forward

but don’t come back

going down, looking back

sideways at tomorrow

and yet it never really feels

towards the end

word-wary

relinquishing intangibles

because I can control the future

but not the past

I go forward

wherever I can

into the dark

because we can never really go back

I pronounce four words:

I meant to say

I can change future

and not the passed

I like change better

I go for control

I go forward

into the abyss

at the sound of the buzzer

of the past

shying from the future

Vanessa Place, Catherine Heard, Brian Bartlett, Natalee Caple, Todd Bruce, Nicole Collins, Sandra Ridley, Jamie Reid, Kinga Jakab, Gary Barwin, Linda Steer, Andréa Ledding, Kathleen Betts, Tanis MacDonald, Tom Cull, Susan Christian, Thamyris Jones, Warren Dean Fulton, Priscilla Brett, Jacob Wren, Kateri Lanthier, Kim O’Gorman, Evelyn Mitsui, Alison Starkey, Joseph Brown, Clint Wilson, Lisa Young, Kristen Peterson, Kevin McPherson Eckhoff, Richard Rathwell