Beginning
I’m thinking
of cartoons
that say
the end is nigh
on a sign
held by a guy
on a corner,
rag coat,
hunched,
forlorn,
whose years
went south,
didn’t pan out as
he thought they would
when he was a boy,
the way
they should’ve but
never made it
over a midlife hump
when the light at a
tunnel’s end
everybody talks about
when things fall apart
went
slowly dim
went
from sun
to lighted pinprick
in a scrim
on a stage
where all are merely
players,
women, men
strong, lame
clowns, crooks
politicians running
showing up
puking
mewling
like a child
in a
mother’s arms
….and I was thinking
of the moment just before
when
in the dark
nothing is
but a
beginning
that is always
coming
.
Jim Culleny
11/1/16
.