metaphor dice ii

I rolled twice this morning to get this combination...


an escape

at first glance this is so obvious as to be boring:
of course
the past is a handed-down act,
and facing the facts,
"the past is a handed-down act"
is not even a very graceful phrase.

but what if we were, as per the directions,
to construct
the metaphor using something other than "is"?

the past is not a handed-down act
the past was born a handed-down act
the past considered my mother a handed-down act
the past claimed to be a handed-down act
the past was never a handed-down act
the past turned into a handed-down act
the past thought he was a handed-down act
the past dreamed of being a handed-down act

all true.  and then there is the reverse:
"the handed-down act of the past"

ah.  I see it now.  break and rearrange:
"the act of a handed-down past"

yes, I have certainly been
the act
of a handed-down past.

break and rearrange the past
and out
falls the word iconoclast. 

I have certainly been an iconoclast.
this past
was handed down to me
in acts large (march on Washington)
and small (make cassoulet)

I can and I will now
break likeness,
march on cassoulet and make Washington
down hands on past acts--

no. enough of the feverish cleverness.
it will be enough just to break
likeness, go
to the fields and be lovely,
bloom for a time.


draft © HM 2018