Persistence

the desert dog chases

that f*****g bird

across the salt flats,

saguaros and salt dunes

like a zealot that wants

to turn this very nation

into a theocracy…

 

that’s the definition

of persistence,

of perseverance,

of tenacity,

of stamina…

 

doggedness,

plain and simple,

pure and easy,

no letters wasted,

no words minced…

 

and that’s what working over

the holiday season means…

 

there’s no other way to say it,

there’s no other way to put it,

there’s no other way to make that

thought strand any more linear

than it already is…

 

that desert dog craves,

needs, suspires for the

state bird of New Mexico

like a denizen of Glasgow

longs for the

trainspotting trash…

 

and that’s what drives

the ones who are putting

in the time and effort to

keep this society running,

right or wrong,

for better or worse…

 

and for the ones working

long stretches and far away

from home, this is for you…

 

an ode to your persistence,

to you being the coyote…

 

and for us all,

even in this den of what

feels like everlasting agony,

this is an ode for us all as well…

 

persistence itself in spite of it all

is the measure of a life well lived…

 

weighed, measured

and found adequate