The Last Straw (Poetry)

20th March 2016
First published in Word Craft Issue 19 Spring 1986

Oh the silly trivialities
that cause the tranquil nerve to snap
and fly in reason’s face.

A pile of petty difficulties —
those small annoying clouds that blot
a trouble-free horizon

with some obscene maliciousness
to tempt the anger of a storm
and ruffle tired feathers.

Confounded by perversity
the brows are wont to knit and crease
and lure the tongue to spit

ill-considered blasphemies
until the flood of temper slows
and logic builds a dam

to check this puerile petulance.
So calm returns and smooths the way
to bridge the camel’s back.