Middle Earth

Sometimes the earth quakes
shakes things up
moves things around
creating, shifting roads

each one different
just like arthritic fingers
Each winding path
filled with spastic water

daring me to dive
daring me to drive

against the waves
against the cars
crashing into me
over and over

each quake
making me work
going deeper into
Middle Earth

looking for middle ground
the color of white clover
striving for an agreement
signing the year's end battle

but also discovering the beauty
of something new and clean
untarnished
upon a paper horizon

wrapping around me
lifting me out of the mud
knowing I'm too exhausted
to do it myself

inhaling all the past mistakes
that were not all my own
reincarnating the present
exhaling a new birthday

Excited for the possibilities
of a future found
in the sacred ground
of divorce papers