Graceful motion

I could have been borne
on a recently decommissioned DC3

The sun could have refused to rise
or the earth to do another revolution

Living things demand to live
lacking right and reason

they demand to know and to touch each other
to kill and to eat

to absorb atmospheres
set off dangerous reactions

lead down reckless ways
I could have fucked

my way into a prison
or utterly reserved

all my questions for the silence
of thinking alone

I could have obeyed the laws
like the moon obeys hers

saved all my hungers
for one innocent banana

not gone for walks
ignored signs

left words unwritten
callings uncalled

I could have taken risks
and I didn’t

but I sit at a table
and look to other climates

opinions fashions
I could invent cities

watch them be ruined
and disregard the life of each

the life of its own
I could have asked them all

for nothing more
than graceful motion

Grant Duncan 9.12.05