Lock

Under your thumb,
wrapped around your finger.
Not because you want it that way but
because you thought it would be safer
because they said so;

Nape grazed by knuckles
it's colder than you expect
under a street lamp and
worse, the darkness between street lamps
footsteps behind you

Where are you going with this?
You just want to go home.

Sweaty leather in your palm -
a trip you took once, a souvenir
of a place you wanted to go so much
you didn't mind when you got somewhere else.
Remember that, remember how that felt.

Teeth cutting into your skin; why?
Maybe there are no footsteps,
maybe everything echoes in your head,
maybe what unlocks your secrets
can't also be what shields them.

No one thing is enough;
nothing is enough.
Do you hold the keys or
are you grasping at straws?
After this we can talk about "clutch".

Comments

[Madeleine]

Wow.

That is the extent of my abilities as a poetry critic, but I know what I like.

[Rob]

I really like this, especially the first line...controlled and out of control. It really sets the tone.