Uphill
To honor Lyle Grosjean
—It’s steep,
—Of course it is.
—And hard.
—Many things are hard.
—You won’t stop anything.
—Not today.
—So, you climb over
and again without hope.
—No. Hope’s our companion.
—You climb against
the wind and the world.
—And we’ll do it again.
—How long?
—Until we’re done.
—How long will you? —
—The day’s journey
takes the whole long day.
—And tomorrow?
—We climb again.
Mark J. Mitchell has been a working poet for 50 years. He’s the author of five full-length collections, and six chapbooks. His latest collection is Something To Be from Pski’s Porch Publishing. A novel that includes some poetry, A Book of Lost Songs is due out next Spring. He’s fond of baseball, Louis Aragon, Dante, and his wife, activist Joan Juster. He lives in San Francisco where he points out pretty things.
Amethyst Review 