Poem: July 2, 2019

Self-Centered and Halfway There

Here's the thing about being
in the middle, in the thick
of it, in between: you are
a long way from the end and
too far in to quit, and you
wouldn't if you could anyway

because, in the middle, you
are the center, the crucible,
the primordial source,
the great, gravitational force,
the conductor of the orchestra.

Everything radiates from you.
Everything is attached to you.
Everything originates in you.

And in the slow and crushing
stillness at the center of the storm,

you have reduced your variables.

You have a good chance to be
the last gray lump of clay
still stuck to the center
of the wheel when everything
else goes flying across the room.