Dan's Journey or adventuring into the sweaty crevice below the underbelly of society



The warrior walked...
Walked an uncertain path
...in transit...
Every encounter a stone stepped tenuously clinging
To the abdominal cliff
That led to the sweaty crevice below the underbelly of society.

The warrior talked...
Talked of psychological math
...in transition...
Every word divided by subtracting common sense
From the multiple decisions
Adding to the verbal menace below the underbelly of society.

The warrior balked...
Balked at the pharmacological need
...in transmission...
Every crime perpetrated by intoxication
In his client's cycle of descent
Pitched into the precipice below the underbelly of society.

The warrior cocked...
Cocked and loaded his intellectual weapon
...with ammunition...
Every volley felling a reflected enemy
In an ethereal mirror
Parallel images that surface below the underbelly of society.

The warrior mocked...
Mocked the multitudes that rose to replace
...in transmunition...
Every thought in the progression of recovery
Removing obstacles
Laughing madly into the face below the underbelly of society.

The warrior walked...
Walked with his prodigy to a place
...in transit...
Every step a seed of hope growing
To a tangible way
Out of the sweaty crevice below the underbelly of society.

About this poem

A friend who is also a caregiver would describe his commute to work with a client who has mental health and substance abuse issues and lived in the inner city, as traveling through the underbelly of society. I imagined a place even darker. In this poem I completely made up a word just to keep a thing going. Is that cheating?

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Written on 2013

Submitted by Billigami on November 15, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:06 min read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme AbCdxe abfxxe axffxe gffexe ghfexe AhCdxe
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,246
Words 220
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

William Michael Reeves

William Michael Reeves, a.k.a Billigami, lives in Seattle. Works as a nurses aide and has drawn inspiration from experiences as a caregiver. more…

All William Michael Reeves poems | William Michael Reeves Books

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    "Dan's Journey or adventuring into the sweaty crevice below the underbelly of society" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/114079/dan's-journey-or-adventuring-into-the-sweaty-crevice-below-the-underbelly-of-society>.

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