…………………………………………………….A poem is never finished, only abandoned
…………………………………………………………..–Paul Valery

In a downtown daze I trolled among towers
reeking of success, rising proudly into the sky,

and between them found an alley of orphans,
all my incomplete gestures, children

who made and dismayed me, never found
a home in my heart.

They fled the disregard
to which I condemned them, banded together,

unselfishly shared their pain
and painkillers,

and admired each others deformities.
They tattooed my ink into their fists

and waited, one-eyed and one-armed,
(the eye full of spite, the arm heavily armed),

hoping that the globe really turns and brings everything around,
and that if they remain still it will deliver me,

meaning their maker, to them
for a vengeful rendezvous,

and would I please, sir, stop for a moment?
My friends and I would like a word.

Dudley Stone’s poetry is Pushcart Prize-nominated and has recently appeared in Neologism Poetry Journal and The Headlight Review. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and a proud member of the Kentucky State Poetry Society. Mr. Stone lives in Lexington, Ky. See more of his work at dudleystone.com.