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
digging 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