Seesaw
(a villanelle)
Your feet propel me toward the skies,
But when you soar, I fall. And though
I want what symmetry supplies,
Momentum’s all that we comprise.
When self-reproach has thrust me low,
Your feet propel me toward the skies -
But just as sanguine musings rise,
Our inclined see-saw seats plateau.
I want what symmetry supplies,
But equity’s just downfall’s guise.
And when your put-downs drop me low,
Your feet propel me toward the skies.
For years, I’ve strived to stabilize
Our course in vain, yet still I know
I want what symmetry supplies.
Let’s disembark; let’s equalize -
This mount’s a crutch we ride. Although
Your feet propel me toward the skies,
I want what symmetry supplies.
Shark Cage
(a rondeau)
The jaws that bite can’t breach this cage
I rang my heart within an age
Ago. Back then, I merely deigned
To drift the sea enclosed—disdained
My chaste security. I’d rage
Against my nuptial bars, engage
With bait the circling sharks. I’d wage
Relentless battle ‘til I reined
The jaws that bite.
When errant strokes could not assuage,
I pried these bars and fled my cage.
I swam with sharks while unconstrained,
But learned too late why love attained
Imposes bars: to disengage
The jaws that bite.
