The Challenge
If the modern man can get through today, this one day
without killing anything
without picking that ant
off his pants
gently rolling it between his giant fingers
like a booger.
The modern woman holds a sharp knife
definitively
and asks how sharp
enough to cut her own flesh
down to the bone
apparently.
We all stretch out our arms
to grab two rope ends:
sustainability and self-murder
pull they and/or us pull
until we let them both go, go
let the ant crush us
become the sharp knife
give up the challenge.
E. Martin Pedersen, originally from San Francisco, has lived for over 40 years in eastern Sicily, where he taught English at the local university. His poetry appeared most recently in Adirondack Review, Better Than Starbucks, Brief Wilderness, Danse Macabre, Thirteen Myna Birds. Martin is an alumnus of the Community of Writers. He has published two collections of haiku, Bitter Pills and Smart Pills, and a chapbook, Exile’s Choice, just out from Kelsay Books. A full collection, Method & Madness, is forthcoming from Odyssey Press.