Grit


from the ABC set Circles and Straight Lines

There is too much sea spit
in the glue that holds us,
there is too little grit in my resolve.
Not another step through the sludge!
I lift my chewing gum foot,
freeze; walk the snapping stalagmites,
crunch through a gravel of ice,
and all for the freshness of snow.
I will not melt a milky thaw,
put you in my mouth to make words
drip from a husky tongue, until
the first bud is a sprig of green,
gently held, in the sharpest beak.
I am all edge; the blades of my skates
or the cut of the sledge, two
tracks speed ahead, straight.

Discuss this piece in the abctales forum