daily dogfight

every creative act
is an act of war
we are in timeless
battle with the lesser
versions of ourselves
and in defeat we sit alone
in mumpish judgment
of the world
watching as it sinks
like a flaming ship
into the black
smoldering void
of our past
sucking us
slowly
down
with
it

but no
we can’t ever surrender
in our daily dogfight
with our deadened selves
even (especially) when we feel
dead-ended ourselves
we’ve got to
we get to
wrestle back control over
this precious flame
this fickle delicious flame
the one that lights up
just enough fog
on the slippery path ahead
so that our greater selves
can take another
brave
step
forward