“Dust to Dust” (Dust to Sisyphus)
Dust to Dust
I roll this rock
up up this hill,
trying to remember
where I put
my….
The rock is large, chest-high–not like some
marble you can thumb at all the world.
I lean into it as I push, as if it
were the dais of my existence–
though I also pinch my lips
into a tight shut fist against the dust
thrown up by our erosive path,
our close connection–
Of course, I want it to
crumble–the rock to pulverize, the
hill to subside. How else will I dis-solve
this problem
of path and footing?
But still chest stumbles; dust
seeping through every refusal–
Because I just can’t breathe
when holding breath, can’t rest
when pushing.
(And not-pushing is not
an option–I’m pretty sure
they were clear on that much–)
Oh where–
did I put–
my–
rock….
**************************************************
I am posting the above poem for dVerse Poets Pub “meeting the bar” challenge, hosted by Victoria C. Slotto. The challenge was to write an allegorical poem. I went for the obvious (sort of.)
The 26th day of National Poetry Month!
Explore posts in the same categories: iPad art, poetry, UncategorizedTags: dVerse allegorical poem, elephant sisyphus, I had a marble here somewhere, manicddaily, poem based on Sisyphus, this damn rock
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ManicDDaily 
April 26, 2012 at 11:24 pm
very cool play on sysyphus here k. – he didn’t have an option – we have but not always easy to know if it’s worth the sweat and the pinched lips cause there always stays a bit of hope that we finally manage to get that rock to the mountain top..very nice..
April 26, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Love these:
“Of course, I want it to
crumble–the rock to pulverize, the
hill to subside”
“dust
seeping through every refusal”
Hmmm, perhaps I’m imagining things. But I think you have a codependent relationship with your rock (your problem). If you aren’t constantly focusing on it, something feels “off.” So you start looking for a problem. In fact, you’d like to “dis-solve” it just to make sure you still have a problem to worry about. Am I way off base?
April 27, 2012 at 7:23 am
Thanks, Shawna. I haven’t had time to answer comments, so sorry for delay in getting back to you. I actually didn’t mean the character to come off as codependent though it is very likely to read that way–I kind of think we are all stuck in this mortal coil, and I don’t think we can really slough it off so easily–just the fact of having a body is difficult enough, something to push and slog through life. I really don’t think i was very clear about that in the poem–it is sometimes hard to respond quickly to a prompt in exactly the way one wants! Part of the lack of clarity may come from deleting verses that seemed too long to me (but maybe were important.)
All that said–I am happy for people to take whatever meanings are meaningful to them!
April 27, 2012 at 1:42 am
Always loved the Sisyphean comparisons! Great poem!
April 27, 2012 at 6:33 am
Thank you so much, Lynn.
April 27, 2012 at 5:37 am
This is so good! It is the perfect response to the prompt and then it goes beyond it. A fine poem by any token.
April 27, 2012 at 6:22 am
nice….i will play off Cs comment in that he did not have a choice, we do, but it will cost us for sure…and in that you find the real tension, what are we willing to give up…and does the rock seem insignifigant in comparison…nice k
April 27, 2012 at 10:36 am
i am def missing the 55s today as well…
April 27, 2012 at 7:01 am
Sisyphus is a hard myth to crack. Where is the compulsion? How condemned, how put into place and kept to the task? I think your understanding here of inner compulsion, taking the task as minute desire to fulfill some inner destiny gets us going into the cruel reality that the story means.
April 27, 2012 at 7:18 am
Ha–well thanks, Chaz. I cut the poem a great deal–all the parts about near arrival—I just felt it was going on too long–though that part was a bit more humorous. It really is very rough–but thanks. k.
April 27, 2012 at 9:57 am
I found the comments and your responses helpful here and had to laugh at myself when you said you were concerned about length. I read it as corporeal strain/struggle over compulsion the first time through and then thought perhaps I missed the point. Also, I love your elephant.
April 27, 2012 at 10:15 am
No, I’m sure you got the point. I really do try to cut things down – often unsuccessfully – and sometimes I may take out too much. On the one hand, I think people reading blogs are, by the very nature of the enterprise, forced to read very quickly. I don’t want to try their patience! On the other hand, I think I sometimes eviscerate the points that would make a piece clearer on a first rushed reading= but in my struggle to be short and not too obvious – I delete these important bits. Agh. It is fun to write quickly and post frequently, but probably some work would do well to sit and gell a bit first. K.
April 27, 2012 at 10:19 am
Just for future reference I never arrive here and think, I wish this was shorter :).
April 27, 2012 at 10:25 am
Ha! Thanks! (But you are someone with a long attention span!) k.
April 27, 2012 at 11:44 am
Great choice of symbolism…of course, myth is a prime example of allegory and your precious Sisyphus-elephant: couldn’t she just pick it up and hurl it to the top? Perhaps I’m expecting too much of her. :0)
April 27, 2012 at 11:54 am
Yes. She’s not as strong as she looks! K.
April 27, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Gosh Karin–I thought I’d commented on this, but it must have been the one before, because when I read it, I knew I hadn’t. This parade of poetic rock-pushing is getting confusing! I like the allegory here–and letting the rock roll back on you seems to be an option for some, but I don’t think that makes things much easier. Your little drawing with this one is really charming, though th poem itself is gritty and gives a sense of struggle and heaviness that numbs the brain.( I think that’s called having a job.)
April 27, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Ha, thanks. I had an amusing verse – maybe more than one that I cut – maybe wrongly.
The drawing is funny as it was late and I put together a composite of old drawings of mine by sending them all to my iPad and then shifting, tilting and erasing.
I am not sure if it was faster in the end than just doing a new drawing! But I also liked that elephant, and it’s always amusing to muck around on the iPad. k.
April 27, 2012 at 4:05 pm
We needlessly push against so much in life, work so hard, worry so much. Love how you ended this.