Once Upon a Time Poems

Caving In

If it be the grave,
lost shoes, or claustrophobia,
I’ll permeate the rock
and enter this cave,
feeling through the dark,
scaling the stones,
to submerge within,
to get to the core
of the hollow depression,
with a hopscotch skip,
just to circle in joy,
stomping on a pool
tainted
with carbonic acid.

Through my private grotto,
its tiny holes,
depositories,
human remains,
absurdities without plots or structures,
I’ll maneuver and squeeze
to unseal the crags,
to witness the glowing calcite
under the seeping light.

On this intrepid quest,
though knees may ache or skin be bruised,
I’ll accept my thorny defeats,
for without this trek,
without this cave,
could anything materialize?