Page 8 - Contrast2005

II PM, 8 Minute Miles

Rhythmic pavement beneath my feet
drowning your deceit -

if I could just negate
you, maybe I wouldn't have to hate

you-the word stricken from my vocabulary -
thought I could cope with temporary.

Drumming sneakers scream taboos, embrace Webster's temptation -
black slashes, smoldering ink-words you called the devil's creation,

but I reject Plato and worship Augustine
run until I find serene

pounding, crushing the asphalt charcoal
wearing thin my footprints cold

5 miles done, can't feel the spin
Sisyphus up the hills again.

Reject the home cupped in your hands,
prototype, small enough for you to comprehend,

miniscule, too fragile to contain the blasts
of a realist who knows: only memories last.

Again, again, and again to fall,
you swept me to Hades when you gave me your all.

-Chava Roth
Poetry Contest Honorable Mention

6 Contrast 2005