It isn’t what you’re thinking —
or, maybe it is. I don’t know
what you know about it. All I know is
when I hear the words a finish line
appears, well-defined and solid,
at the distant end of a track.
At sunrise runners queue up behind the start line
and when the gun cracks they take off
as madly as they can, never noticing
that they never get any farther along —
not that it matters. The object here isn’t to win,
it’s to run; to be in the game.
If you’re watching
from the sidelines and you want in
someone just has to offer you a number,
a lane of your own that may or may not be crowded,
a stopwatch that may or may not be set to zero.
(The word is out that you should be grateful
no matter what you get.) All you need to win this one
is to be allowed on the track,
and then they call the race on account of darkness
and hand almost everyone a medal
except you — but tell you that you get to try again,
just wait for the next dawn to come up
bright and shiny as sweat on a pale brow.
“Be patient. The race is not always to the swift,”
you are told,
I am told,
we are told
again.
Dark Matter 
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:53 am
Re: alright…
It’s a racial commentary…a pun on the idea of a “white race” as a competition, and there being unequal rules about entrance. I was thinking both of the blood quota laws that have affected African Americans and Native Americans over the years, and the larger sense of entrance into a society that was largely defined and established for the benefit of Whites.
It does end on an indeterminate note…but then again, so does the whole subject…
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 3:39 am
Re: alright…
I don’t know about given up — but definitely dry and tired.
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?
March 13th, 2005 at 12:22 am
alright…
what is this poem about? it sounds almost — i dunno… dry and tired and like someone has given up… can you expound?