A Red Light Poem by Ben Partenay

flashing
stop, stop, stop
the magnitude
of repetition
the way
a heart beats
and goes on
beating

there was
time enough
today, I
thought of
my first
poem, what I
wished to
say and
what I
never quite
had

there were
times, I thought
and rethought
stumbled over
niceties, words
full up
with empti-
ness

these bits of
sand and heat,
slipping
into glass

repetition
like first steps
we try and solve
the riddle