A High Wire Artist (9/15/88)

William Goresko 1951 (Philadelphia, PA) – 2008 (Willow Grove, PA)



I travel the lonely road
Between exaltation
And oblivion;
A high wire artist
With no safety net.
Looking into the void of
The darkened amphitheater
I walk that fine line,
Foot following foot,
Arms stretched out,
Moving forward half blind.
That hard, taut wire
My feet firmly embrace
Pulls me forward along
The edge ever higher
Up through the black space.
With no end in sight
And no turning back,
I continue along
The seam which joins
The frozen ground below
To the blazing sky above.
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Submitted by cuwoodford on May 31, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

25 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDEFBGHIFJKFJLMKNOE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 463
Words 86
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22

William Goresko

William Goresko was an avid landscape photographer, a lover of backpacking and the outdoors, a voracious reader of classical literature and ardent fan of classical music as well as 60s rock and folk music. He also loved cooking and watching Sixers basketball games. He was a floor sander by trade. In 1984 at age 32 he was rendered quadriplegic in a car accident and lived for 24 more years. He retained his love of life and had a strong will to live. All poems were written a few years after the accident, typed one letter at a time, using a sip and puff device. Poems were submitted by his wife Cheryl. more…

All William Goresko poems | William Goresko Books

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