Maybe you had to be there
or more likely wanted to.
It was possibly vital
a goal or destination
that might have had
unerring potential.
Maybe you made elaborate plans
what to take and how much.
You could have justifyinggone as you were.
You are pretty sure your
arrival would have been
important to somebody.
Maybe trust could have been saved
a fence cmade true
or a contract signed because
you got there whether
puffing and blowing desperation
or gracefully early.
Maybe you were chosen
an omen set your path.
Maybe you took a desire
seriously getting there
far ahead of yourself.
Maybe there won’t turn
out to be like you
think it is. Maybe it
ought to shift for itself
with you right here
breathing down to the
hairs of your body.
— Harley Elliott
Harley Elliott’s books of poetry include Animals That Stand In Dreams and Darkness at Each Elbow, both available from Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, New York’ and The Monkey of Mulberry Pass and Loading the Stone, both from Woodley Press, Topeka, Kansas.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 