apex

\AY-peks\

noun

: the highest point : peak

as far as natural metaphors are concerned, i have a tendency to lean toward the sea, ocean, ships, overall a nautical theme (see Feb. 15). but i did go through a short period during which i liked to reference mountains. this period was specifically after i moved out to portland, when i first crossed a major mountain range. i visualized this crossing as a passage into another world, and i felt like i could really channel the western expansion of american pioneers.

i was also going though a shitty break-up at the time, so moving and separating and putting a mountain range along with a hefty three thousand miles in between myself and my past was totally liberating. hence, it came out in my writing.

i even wrote a crappy poem about it, which i will share with the reader, because as i said yesterday, i so enjoy being humbled:

three thousand miles

is really a small distance

compared to your arm's length

when you pushed me away.

and so i crossed mountains

to make my escape,

but even mountains

can't block my view

when i look back your way.

now we've made a gray area

to mask our continental divide.

a murky swamp

to dip our toes in

when the land gets too dry,

but the water is too dense

to swim to the other side,

and the dusk is too dark

for us to see eye to eye.

so how do we meet halfway,

when this america between us

is now a negative space,

a desert of miscommunication

made by my absence of faith,

and a sea of quicksand

where our love lies in wait.

this is, by far, not the APEX of my poetry, nor is it the worst poem i have ever written. but, as you can see, there is a reason i write nonfiction.