The Pressure of the Moment

Dara Barrois/Dixon

1949 –

The pressure of the moment can cause someone to kill someone or something

The leniency of consideration might treat with more kindness

Which is to be desired. Or at least often to be desired.

But if my house is on fire and you notice, I wish you would kill

That fire. But if my hair is on fire, while I'm sure you'll be enjoying

The spectacle of it, act quickly or don't act at all. But if a sudden

Jarring of us all out of existence is eminent, do something.

We’re All Ghosts Now

So says my friend who doesn’t know it now
But he’s been conscripted to say what I shouldn’t

Want anyone to say too soon, too suddenly, too many times
More than must be said. It’s a tall order, or as another friend says

A tall drink of water, otherwise: it’s plain & simple:
What anyone wants most of all.

Another friend tells me I’m easy and means something sweetly as when
One caves with the slightest shudder somehow thoroughly.

Another says what you say should be in a poem which means

Dara Barrois/Dixon

2013

Who Is God? So Asked Our Dog

How many seasons are there?
Where was God born?
How many stars?
Who discovered every single one of the Americas and all of the other places?
Do some dwarves live in caves?
Is your mother singing in church tonight?
Is your father setting his hat on his head?
Do those goldfish belong to you?

Dara Barrois/Dixon

2011

Incident on the Road to the Capital

A wolf had grown tired of his character and sought
to find a means to transform himself into something 
more vicious, more deadly. While his coat was slick,
thick and well-colored, for he was an excellent hunter,
he yearned for something to do that had nothing to do 
with survival or instinct. He no longer killed because
he needed to or could. All that was useless, too practical,
too obvious. He wanted to kill for some other purpose.
For all of his successfully completed kills, his perfect
record of stealth and elusion, he felt nothing.

Dara Barrois/Dixon

2010

Poems

The Pressure of the Moment

More by this poet

We’re All Ghosts Now

Who Is God? So Asked Our Dog

Incident on the Road to the Capital

Poems

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The Pressure of the Moment

More by this poet

We’re All Ghosts Now

Who Is God? So Asked Our Dog

Incident on the Road to the Capital

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