unleavened

Fear
after Alice Oswald

From time to time your fear is like a weight
and when released that weight begins to fall

and hard and fast it strikes sharp like an axe
and when the axe keels through it’s like a ship

and if the ship is yours it has five masts
like matches stood on end and when a match

sparks into life it’s like a story told
and once the story’s told it grows like yeast

and this when yeast is needed for your dough
which kneaded proved and baked is like a stone

and when the stone is chipped it’s like a tree
battered and bruised by strong winds like a riot

and when the riot recedes it leaves a desert
which is like fear, which is like nothing else.


© Matthew Joseph Johnson, 2009