There are
maps of our choosing
with a finite indifference
to logic traversed
too often despite
knowing ruin
awaits…
This is where the
monkey screams
above the tiger's roar.
Where the dive
not the broken landing
bequeaths victory.
Where the swords
wound deep to
the same sad laughter.
Of an outcome
predetermined as
a drum major's echo.
The chloroform
in color of a
morphine drip.
Chasing love using
failed routes from
torn maps of chance.
Being dropped whole
to the speedtarp of hope
with no exit signs.
Blindfold removed
to traffics from all sides
ambulances in motion.
____________________________________________________________________
The Speed Trap of Hope
by Rp Verlaine
Rp Verlaine lives in New York City.
He has an MFA in creative writing from City College.
He taught in New York Public Schools for many years.
His first volume of poetry- Damaged by Dames
& Drinking was published in 2017, and another – Femme Fatales
Movie Starlets & Rockers in 2018. A set of three e-books
titled Lies From The Autobiography vol 1-3 were published from
2018 to 2020. His newest book, Imagined Indecencies,
was published in February 2022. He was nominated for a
Pushcart prize in poetry in 2021 and 2022.
