Let’s say the skier
is out of control
as she careens down the hill
and let’s say that she sees
the tall red willows
from a distance
and thinks to herself
I am not going to hit
those willows.
Tilted and lurching
she is too loudly laughing,
afraid of the speed
and equally thrilled with it,
gripped with conviction
that she is not is not
is not going to hit
those willows, those red willows,
those tall red willows
those willows the only
thing that she sees
as she skis right into
the tallest of the tall red willows
at the base of the hill
those willows
she gave
all her attention.
What we resist, persists
Love the title on this one, an ode especially applicable here. Also that section of “nots” in the careen toward the willows, emphasizing what the reader knows is going to happen. My only twitch here is that last line, because it reads a bit off grammatically, without the “to which she gave” or “she gave all her attention to”. I can see why you trimmed those prepositions, but what if you switched the attention: …those willows which received all her attention. The line closes with a grammatical snap, ouch. Sorry. I felt that too.
Ya, at my house, we call this a Heavy Gravity day. Wish I knew why the willows were red??
Took me a while to put the graphic with the poem. But I love its sharp and subtle humor. I spend a considerable amount of time on my back, with an aching cranium, wondering. What in the tarnation did I trip over? There are no read willows in sight or site.