Taking Back the Knack

©2017 Susan Noyes Anderson

image by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash

I think I may have lost the knack
that surely was my stock in trade
in days gone by. The years have made
me less adept. I’ve gone off track.

Relationships: I had a gift
of sensing need, meeting it well.
But lately, I am empty shell
and every comer gets short shrift.

Oh granted, things are crazy here.
A drooping sun. A spinning moon.
Wheels of (mis)fortune turn too soon.
No respite. Toxic atmosphere.

Machine gun miseries from all.
A clip of trouble raining down.
Can’t keep my people off the ground.
Can’t always see them when they fall.

It rankles when I fail to see.
Not used to it. Don’t like it much.
I’m fading, dropping balls and such.
Not quite the force that once was me.

Used up. Burned out. Like melted wax.
Point taken. I’m no northern star.
But they’re my heart. Straight up, they are.
And I’ll not drop them through the cracks.

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Market Day The Go-To-Girl Got Up and Went Un(wo)manned The Source