Unshackling the Aftermath

those steel cages

they lowered the bar

along with the boom

now I limbo under

sub-basement expectations

while my anticipations –

once tenacious

if not effervescent –

sink

in their cement shoes.

 

those concertina’d fences

they sliced the ligaments

tethering light under my feet

now I stoop under

chains draped across

crumpled wings

while aspirations fizzle,

fireworks damped

in grey drizzling doubt.

 

“you will never…”

they swore under oath

razing fledgling sprouts of inspiration

straining toward Siberian sun

ad absurdum.

now I excavate cremated élan

sifting through visions in ruins

while I put the lie

to their premature obituary

stargaze with impunity

 

dare to dream again.