How To Know When It's Time Poem by gordon nosworthy

to stop ice fishing
is not about holes &polar bears
neither actually exist
this is about a consciousness
hardwired for faith &knowing
when it's time to stop trusting

now it's said that spotting deceptions
when they flop out onto the ice
gasping for air &crashing about erratically
while you rush to lock closed the black black hole
to prevent more from arriving
is not possible
those who say that also refuse to admit
that capturing polar bear is possible

i submit i quite thoroughly disagree
out on the ice not far from the edge
where the black black hole creates the illusion of peace
erect a cage high enough to reach the borealis dancers
construct it from more or less still active
past bone &skeleton

the bars are forged from pure lack of want
the door a gate of hardened how-not-to-need
when you want what you want
the chains are interlaced thru the bars
they clutch manacles which once secured
tolerate enormous stresses without fracturing
without allowing themselves to be robbed

for a strategy start out in any direction
you do not wish to go &admit you do not know
really the right direction to be a trickster
slide the cage off the shore out onto the ice
park it directly over the hole
or close by
&leave the door ajar
sprinkle bait liberally about the space
now as a distraction run off yelling
&cursing about the cold &snow…
&that's pretty much it
except for the chanting &dancing
&shaking all the rattles
as if it all mattered &made complete sense