Kay Middleton’s most recent poem to appear here was These lines are old (October 2014).

The green sea
By Kay Middleton

It is a very large iceberg you hold
in your hand, this history
of a painter who, in his sixth
decade
whacks golf balls
and hopes
to find the meaning
of his life or at least
to invest ten thousand
hours and soar
above despair.
Your focus, the cold loneliness.
His focus, the perfected swing.
My focus, the historian.
So we must fail, all.
I cannot melt the metaphor
and it is too late to change
course or call the Coast Guard.