Michael Shepherd - ! Dancing the invisible line

Some like to sit on fences, admire the view in safety;
some are born hurdlers; .

draw a line, and some minds shrink back;
others can’t wait to compete, first over wins…

poets, said the sage, should always
walk on the edge of madness…

ah, remember when you were a child,
walking down the path one foot within,
one foot beyond?

‘a line of poetry’…every line, a line,
one foot beyond, one foot within –

prose, verse; rhymed, unrhymed;
metered, unmetered; actual, fantasy;

elevated, jokey; personal, impersonal;
tragic, comic; a road taken, or not taken..

oh, so many lines
that others painted on the road –

dance down that road,
one foot beyond, one foot within..

Michael Shepherd

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dancing-the-invisible-line/