Sifting sands hourglass these burning days
across this tract where, now, consumed by fire
you hold a personal marathon. You inhabit,
however briefly, this desert allowing
yourself to roam the lush rushes of exodus,
because that’s what running is: escape, hearing
the talking sleep of breezes through the yucca
brevifolia. Like an alcoholic prayer for serenity, you
command your Moses knees to rise and fall in
the dunes of Santa Fe. Your Jesus feet descend
into Hell; then tumbleweeding towards the smoking
Raton Gap. On the 3rd day, rising, again, away
from all those trophies too tarnished to recognize,
anymore. And, as if it were planned, you race into a
final version of your vision of winning.
Searchlight, Nevada / (2011)
From: Crosswalk Casserole
Summary
“CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER” by Michael C. Ford is a poem centered on place and geography, identity, aging. Its imagery is anchored in Santa Fe, Nevada. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
The poem uses direct address, creating an intimate and sometimes confrontational relationship with its subject.
Style and form
The poem is line-driven. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include place and geography, identity, aging, travel and movement. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
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Source & rights
Source: Crosswalk Casserole (Lawn Gnome Publishing, First Edition, 2013)
Rights: © 2013 Lawn Gnome Publishing. All rights reserved.