Spinning in One Place

author’s note:

With regret I cut these lines from the poem below:

...silent questions began
to surround me--
after all, all anyone ever saw was
someone just standing around.


SPINNING IN ONE PLACE

Feeling dizzy
as I walked this spinning planet
I decided to stop
and rest my head

but standing in one place
created its own problems:
I began to feel feelings
I could usually ignore
in the rush of daily chores

and as I tried to cope
with the whirlwind of feeling spinning within

the world outside also began to blow.
Though I wanted to walk away
I had no choice now but to hold on.

So I deepened my roots
and to bolster my strength
told myself:

yes you seem to have brought
calamity upon yourself
but decisions that cause so much pain
are not made by chance
but by necessity:
we need to become more
for reasons we can’t fully know.

Some may argue with my ideas
but this belief helped calm my heart
and in response, the winds outside
also began to calm a bit--

enough
for me to appreciate the gift
of this spinning dance
on our spinning planet.

What I Learned While Alone: poetry ebook
© 2021, Michael R. Patton