Not Least
The last thing we list,
we don’t want to hurt
it, all alone back there,
aware of how it signals
an ending. Last but
not least, certainly not
least, implying that
this is a position of
significance. We gild
the caboose, set rubies
into exit signs. We love
you, extremities and
ends. Last can mean
best, the headliner,
a final effort flung up
to explode, that box
of yet-uncombusted
fireworks begging
for destruction at the
end of the show. Not
least, not in the least.
Specifically chosen
for the power they
bring to the succession
of what comes before
them. Where should
we stop building, or
talking, or thinking.
What will we find
to stop us. How do
we repay it when
we see it in action.
"We gild
ReplyDeletethe caboose, set rubies
into exit signs."
Love that.
I love those rubies, too, in the poem, and the ruby sandals in the image!
ReplyDeletePondering the poem in lots of ways, Hannah. Love the long line of it!
The long vertical! Made of short horizontals!
ReplyDeleteI love the reference to the gilded caboose. Perfect. And the image -- that one really caught my eye when I linked through to the Sartorialist in your previous post. It's wonderful.
ReplyDeleteLove it top to bottom...Happy Wednesday Hannah!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem-- I'll be back..xxj
ReplyDeleteI also really like "We gild / the caboose, set rubies / into exit signs", perhaps because that end is what we carry away with us, even as we need to see something more in it. Thinking of all the ways we revisit what concludes, we have to admit, don't we, that the end really never is the end, nor the least of it.
ReplyDelete