I’m not one for making statements because I’m not trying to be controversial but I am willing to say I think it might be easier to walk forwards than backwards, unless we’re not speaking in a literal sense then backwards may seem an easier direction to head in. However, walking forwards while looking backwards is a motherfucker whether we’re talking literally or metaphorically. I called this poem Walking Forwards because it was the first line in the poem.

WALKING FORWARDS

Walking forwards

She’s not looking back

I had the faith

We so often lacked

Derailed train

Far from its tracks

I’m on the wrong end

Of a suicide pact

Running home

Like a lost little child

Taken from the city

Found out in the wild

Returned the ring

When the divorce was filed

Thought she’d cry

Instead she smiled

Staggering backwards

With no place to go

I thought I was certain

But I didn’t know

Following a ball of string

To where the river flows

No audience left

To watch the final show

Crawling down

Some hole in the ground

Trying to hide

Waiting to be found

Listening to a stereo

Without any sound

Tracked by a rabid pack

Of Saint-Hubert bloodhounds

Standing still

Waiting for a change of heart

Leaving the store

With an empty shopping cart

Sucking on the venom

From a poisoned dart

Just because it ended

Doesn’t mean it restarts

Walking forwards

She’s looking straight ahead

Trying to climb a mountain

In shoes with no tread

I may be dust

I might be dead

Or just some forgotten words

That she once said