What We Obviously Want

author's note:

“The destruction that brings
 an eagle from heaven is better
 than mercy.”
               -- Robinson Jeffers


WHAT WE OBVIOUSLY WANT

In the dream, I know I must step
on a certain round stone
in the cobblestone street--

understanding
that red stone will explode
and in a wild rush of wrath
I’ll be blasted open--
and without ever losing consciousness--
yes, while that raw fire rages
I’ll feel every excoriating moment.

But I claim no distinction:

when she found that sledgehammer
in the weeds beside the road
instinctively, she knew the brutal tool
would own her for the next thirty years
yet she lifted it anyway.

Why do we deliberately step on bombs?
Why do we pick up those sledgehammers?
Why do we empty our veins to feed the fields?
Why-oh-why
do we wander this desert?

Obviously
we want to find our strength.

searching for the new mythology
Glorious Tedious Transformation
© 2021, Michael R. Patton